


Three Beagles and a Kitty

by StanToppDogg



Series: Three Beagles and a Kitty [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, Dog/Human Hybrids, Fluff, Hybrids, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-19 00:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9409262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StanToppDogg/pseuds/StanToppDogg
Summary: Kris was a recent college graduate who went out one day to get a cat hybrid. As fate would have it, he came home with a dog hybrid instead. A tall, silver furred beagle that would do anything to make him happy. Eventually, Kris ends up with 3 beagles, but still has the longing for a cat. His first puppy, Chanyeol, just wants everything to be perfect for his precious owner. But what will that cost him?





	1. Three Beagles

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on AFF. 
> 
> In which Kris owns beagle-hybrids Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Chen and latter kitty Tao. 
> 
> Also in which Chanyeol is a hyper, but overly worried beagle puppy who over thinks things far too much.
> 
> Okay guys, first things first, this is a hybrid au obviously. But I must warn, everyone that this isn't going to be one of those fics where there a lot of "fixed relatioships" (if that makes sense). Meaning that almost all of the characters are going to interact on equal grounds with each other.
> 
> There will be shippy moments between Kris and all of his hybrids, but the main overarching ship with him will be Krisyeol. This is the only "offical" pairing.
> 
> Aside from that, there will be moments between the hybrids on their own, which includes Baekchen (a lot of this), Baekyeol, Chenyeol, Chentao, etc, but none of them are in an offical relationship (minus Chanyeol who's with Kris). 
> 
> So if you don't like that kind of stuff and want "just Krisyeol" or "just Baekchen", then this story probably won't be enjoyable to you. Sorry :(
> 
> But for those who are interested, I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Lastly, this story is gonna be super fluffy without much angst or drama. Though there is a bit in chapter 3. But otherwise I hope you like excessive fluff :)
> 
> Main characters: Kris, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, Tao
> 
> Side characters: Rest of EXO
> 
> This is a fictional story from my own imagination. Any similarities to other stories or real life events are purely conisidental. Again, this is my story that was origally posted on AFF under the username ListentoToppDogg. No plagerism, going on here :)

Hi, guys. This is my first fic on here so I hope eveyone enjoys. I just want to say that I wrote a large bit of this one day after I'd gotten my eyes dialated, so if there are any weird errors, sorry. I went back and re-read it several times, so hopefully everything looks good.

 

The loud beeping of an alarm clock snapped Kris Wu out of his slumber to get ready for the long day ahead of him. The 24-year-old Chinese man was still getting used to his new position at work and having no one else in the home to assist with any of the chores around there wasn’t helping. Going to a job every day in itself can plenty stressful, but to do it in a foreign country was another thing. After graduating college, Kris decided to leave China and get a job in Korea. He moved to Seoul and made his residence in a small apartment. No longer being obligated to have roommates as he was in college, Kris often became quite bored and oftentimes lonely. Though he told himself and others that he enjoyed time to himself, deep down, he truly did long for company at times. Most of his friends were well aware of this fact; many of them spending large quantities of time at his house and even offering to spend the night so he wouldn’t have to be by himself. And always, he’d send them home, insisting that he was fine.

“Why don’t you buy a hybrid?” his friend Suho asked on the phone one day.

“A hybrid?” Kris questioned, nearly choking on his apple.

“Yeah. Most people get them after they get a place of their own.” Suho continued. “For company.”

“I don’t really want that type of company.”

“What do you mean, hyung? They’re just like pets, except they can talk and cook for themselves. It’s actually easier to care for them.” Suho insisted.

“I’m not too sure, Suho. It would almost be like having a kid. I don’t think I can handle having to take care of someone like that.”

 

Hybrids were an odd bunch. Though having the body of a human being, they could also possess animal features depending on the creature they were mixed with. Despite being more common in the current age, they were looked down upon by most of society. While younger citizens would frequently purchase them as roommates or companions, more often than anything, they were purchased by older adults as live-in servants or even sexual objects. It wasn’t at all uncommon for a wealthy person to have 20 or so hybrids simply acting as maids and chefs. The reason for this treatment was mainly based on the reasoning of “they look weird”.

Dog hybrids would sport short fluffy tails and floppy or pointed ears, depending on their breed, that seemed to grow from their scalp. Cat hybrids had long tails that could be thin and short-haired or heavily plumed. Breeds with long hair were thought of as being the most beautiful and were highly coveted. These traits weren’t limited to appearance either. Different hybrids were also known for having varying temperaments. Dog hybrids were known for being very friendly and eager to please their owners, thus they were often given the job of being house keepers. They’d complete any task given to them with a smile on their face and a happy wag of the tail. Anything to make their owner happy. Rabbit hybrids were often shy and most tended to be taken in as servants simply because they would never argue back against an order. Cat hybrids were an entire different zone. They were independent, brash. Didn’t take orders from anyone. They’d rather live out on the streets than live their lives to clean someone’s kitchen every day for no pay. If a cat hybrid worked for their owner, they were definitely getting something in return. As such, cats were less sought out due to their nature

Kris wasn’t at all fond of the idea of making someone a servant just because they were different. Sure hybrids were part animal, but they were more human than anything. They had brains and were able to think for themselves. They had souls. They had feelings. Kris couldn’t imagine housing a creature to just do work for him all day and nothing else. He could hire a human being to do that. He did feel that if he ever did get a hybrid, it would be a cat, since it would at least be less demanding.

“I’ll think about it Suho, but don’t get your hopes up. I can’t see myself ever owing a hybrid.” Kris said before hanging up the phone.

Looking back on that day, Kris would have never imagined that he’d end up with three beagle hybrids.

 

Chanyeol came first.

 

Kris never actually planned to buy him. He’d gone out for a stroll one day and saw the boy in a shop window cleaning various trinkets. Upon going in the shop, he found out that it was in fact a home for hybrids that also sold other various items to maintain a budget to keep caring for the residents in their care.

Kris was instantly attracted to the puppy, mainly due to his beautiful silver fur. It was obviously not a common color for dog hybrids. Most were brown or black. It was only if they had an owner who dyed their fur that Kris would see more unique colors. Kris decided to make his way into the shop and was instantly greeted by the window puppy.

“Hello, hyung. What is your name? My name is Chanyeol. I’m a 22 year old beagle hybrid. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

The dog bellowed out sentence after sentence and Kris could barely keep up. He was more lost in the eyes of the hybrid that anything. He looked so pure and innocent. And for some reason, Kris couldn’t bare to leave the shop without him. It was like an instant attraction. Even with the hybrid standing there, his tail wagging faster than Kris would have thought imagined; all he could do was stare. Somehow, his hand ended up in Chanyeol’s hair, gently stroking the boy’s silver locks. The hybrid pushed his head closer into Kris’s hand. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around the older man, clearly having no issue with the public displays of affection with a total stranger.

“Do you have an owner?” Those were the first set words that left Kris’s lips. Next thing he knew, Kris was driving home with his new beagle hybrid.

 

As soon as Chanyeol walked through the door, the first thing he did was head to the kitchen. After taking off his shoes and jacket, Kris headed after Chanyeol, expecting to see the hybrid stuffing his face with food. It wouldn’t surprise him since rarely ever did those hybrid homes have decent food to provide for their residents. Of course, Kris would have to establish some rules about how much he was allowed to eat during the day. Kris wasn’t struggling financially by any means, but that didn’t mean that he had endless supplies of food. To his surprise, however, Chanyeol had taken out an assortment of pots and pans and appeared to be preparing to cook a meal.

“What would you like to eat sir?” Chanyeol asked, rummaging for more pans in the cabinet. “I haven’t cooked anything really fancy, but if you show me a recipe, I should be able to follow along well enough.” Kris was surprised that that was the first thing on the hybrid’s mind upon arriving to his new home.

“Well, I don’t usually eat this early, but you don’t need to cook for me Chanyeol.”

“I don’t mind it, sir.”

“Um, just hyung is fine. Or Kris, I don’t really care if it’s just us. And, yeah. I don’t really do much cooking myself anyway.”

“Ok, hyung.” Chanyeol says, with a slow wag of his tail. “Is there anything else you need done?” Kris stared at Chanyeol for minute before bringing him into the living room.

“Chanyeol, why do think I bought you?” Kris asked.

“Um, I’m not sure hyung.” The pup replies.

“Well it sure wasn’t for you to do my cooking and cleaning for me.” The older man says.

“Oh, well then,” the dog’s eyes are fixated on the floor and Kris and almost feel what he’s thinking. “What do you need me to do?”

“Chanyeol, I want you to live here as my friend. Not a maid or anything else. I want a companion to hang out with.” 

“Really, sir? I mean Kris hyung?”

“Yeah, I actually don’t like the idea of people buying dog and bunny hybrids just to wait on them hand and foot for their entire lives.” Kris finishes with a gummy smile.

“Thank you, hyung.” Chanyeol says, wagging his tail softly.

 

And thus, Chanyeol and Kris began their lives together. And even despite what Kris had said to the dog on day one, Chanyeol would still insist on cooking Kris’s meals and helping around the house. He felt it was the least he could do since Kris worked almost 9 hours every day to provide food for the both of them. So he’d wake up early and prepare Kris’s breakfast every morning. And as Kris ate, Chanyeol made him lunch. It wasn’t just a simple sandwich either. In fact, more often than not he’d get freshly made dishes like Lo-mein or Mandarin chicken. Kris had told him that he was perfectly fine eating any Korean dishes Chanyeol wanted to make, but the younger insisted that it made him happy to give Kris a taste of his home land for lunch. And after Kris left for work Chanyeol would eat whatever Kris left over for breakfast. The dog hybrid always made a lot, stating that Kris looked too thin. Thus Kris would often only eat a small bit to make sure Chanyeol head enough for himself later. After breakfast he’d wash the dishes and take care of any other household chores that needed to be done. There wasn’t much to wash between the two of them that he needed to do it daily. Plus Kris told him that there was no need to use that much water or electricity. Thus, the puppy often found himself bored without Kris at home. Kris seemed to sense this after a while, noticing how Chanyeol would latch on to him as soon as he walked through the door in the evening, his tail wagging until he fell asleep. How he’d have prepared a massive dinner with several sides simply because he got bored after a while. How he’d sit directly next to him as they ate, rather than across from each other like most other individuals. Kris had tried to come home early as much as possible, and spend his entire weekends with his pup so he wouldn’t be so lonely, but he knew that it wasn’t enough.

 

He needed a friend.

 

The thought of getting another hybrid always made Kris nervous. Chanyeol was no trouble at all and Kris loved having him around, but he knew all hybrids were different. What if the new hybrid was needier than Chanyeol and got upset when he had to work? What if he and Chanyeol didn’t get along? What if they fought for Kris’s attention? The Chinese man didn’t know what he’d do if he couldn’t provide enough attention for one of the hybrids. Obviously Chanyeol’s feelings would be the priority over the new pet, but Kris would be devastated to take a hybrid in and then have to send him back out into homelessness.

“Are you okay, hyung?” Chanyeol asked one night as they were preparing for bed. The dog hybrid had slept in Kris’s room since his first day home. The older man simply asked the younger where he wanted to sleep and the pup shyly asked if he could sleep on the floor in his owner’s room. Kris of course didn’t want his new friend to sleep on the floor like some kind of animal, so he said he was welcome to join him in the bed if he wanted. At first he thought it might be awkward, but now he can’t imagine sleeping without a beagle cuddling him throughout the night.

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” Kris replied, pulling his pajama shirt over his head.

“You smell upset.” Chanyeol said with sad eyes. Being part dog, Chanyeol used his nose more than his eyes to detect changes in his environment. He could tell how Kris was feeling simply by sniffing him.

“Are you lonely while I’m at work, Yeol?” Kris asked, not looking the pup in the eyes.

“Well, yes. Of course I miss you, but I don’t mind being alone, hyung.” The dog stroked Kris’s arm as he spoke. It was a common habit of the dog boy. He adored skinship and it truly wasn’t often that he wasn’t touching Kris in some way.

“Well, I’ve just been thinking a lot lately.”

“About what, hyung?”

“I was just wondering… if maybe…you wanted a playmate.” Kris said quietly. 

“Really?” The dog asked, his ears perking up quickly.

“Yeah, but I wanted to make sure you were okay with it first. I didn’t want you to think I was unhappy with you or that I wanted to replace you or something.”

“I would love to have a friend here. Thank you, Kris!” Chanyeol said, licking his owner in between words. Kris laughed as he playfully pushed his hybrid away. The dog lay down on Kris’s stomach and it was silent for a while. The hybrid spoke up after a couple of minutes.

“I actually know someone who needs a home.” He said quietly.

 

And that was how Baekhyun joined the household.

 

When Chanyeol lived at the hybrid home, he worked in the front of the store, and thus would see when the shop’s mail came in. The delivery man appeared in the form of a brown furred beagle hybrid named Baekhyun. He actually worked and lived at a dual hybrid-trinket shop similar to the one Chanyeol lived in. The only issue was that the home Baekhyun stayed at clearly didn’t care about the hybrids they housed. They used them only to care for the shop and never made any attempts to find the residents homes. After all, that would basically be selling their workers. The brown haired beagle hated staying there, but he had no choice as he was signed over to the place when his original owner abandoned him there for being “too vocal”.

Chanyeol had starting talking to the shorter boy after a while, and the two became friends instantly. On the rare days that Baekhyun didn’t have to work, Chanyeol would ask for the day off so the two could hang out in the park. Chanyeol always expressed his sorrow for the situation his friend was in. He wanted him to have a better life. Whenever someone would come into the shop asking for a dog hybrid, Chanyeol would often direct them to Baekhyun’s shop in the hopes that they’d give him a better home, but no one was ever interested. It didn’t surprise him considering the crappy reputation the place had, but still Chanyeol tried his hardest.

“If I ever find someone who wants to buy me, I’ll ask them to buy you too.” Chanyeol said in the park one day while they were eating ice cream cones.

“It won’t happen.” The other dog said with a small smile.

“It will, hyung. I’ll make sure they take you home too. Then we can both be together. Otherwise I won’t go with them.” The taller boy said. Baekhyun looked at the other beagle long and hard.

“Chanyeol, I don’t want you to sacrifice a home just for me. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re not. You work all day and all night and barely get any food or rest. They don’t give you clean clothes or pay you or anything. You deserve better than that, hyung.”

“You’re right, I do.” The older joked. “But I don’t want you to give up the chance at a better life for me. I’d never forgive myself if I had to know that.” Baekhyun said, patting his friend’s head. Chanyeol slowly lowered his had that was holding the ice cream. His appetite was nearly gone.

“I’m serious, Yeol. I need you to promise me that if you have the opportunity to live in a new home you’ll take it. Promise me that.” Baekhyun said.

“I promise, hyung.” The younger boy said. “But I’m still going to ask.”

“You can ask, but don’t be upset if they say no, okay.” Baekhyun said, raising the cone back to the other boy’s mouth. Chanyeol nodded sadly.

After being purchased by Kris, Chanyeol continued to contact Baekhyun as much as he could. He’d call the shop, pretending that he wanted to order something just so he could hear Baekhyun’s voice. He just needed to know that he was okay. He just needed him to be okay so Kris could buy him too.

“I told you not to get your hopes up. He’ll probably say no.” The brown-haired beagle said during a rushed phone call as he was preparing for a delivery.

“He’ll say yes. I trust Kris.” Chanyeol said. It wasn’t a complete lie. He trusted that Kris wouldn’t just say no and end the conversation. It was the matter of if Baekhyun be suitable for Kris. Chanyeol knew Baekhyun’s attitude and noisiness was what kept him from being purchased in the past, and Chanyeol knew that Kris was a rather quiet and serious person. He’d joke around with Chanyeol on occasion, but more often than not, the two of them were pretty silent at home. Even still, the blond man was pretty relaxed and tended to tolerate things from hybrids that most people didn’t. While many citizens hated when hybrids expressed their animal instincts by doing things like meowing or sniffing their owners, Kris didn’t mind it at all.

“He doesn’t like me to just cook for him all day, but maybe it would help if you learned how to make a few dishes.” Chanyeol said.

“Yeol, if I wanted to just keep working for the rest of my life, I’d stay here.” The older dog joked. Baekhyun didn’t really mind the idea of cooking for his owner every once in a while, but he didn’t like the idea of doing it all the time. It would make him seem like more of a servant than a pet.

“I mean, it doesn’t have to be anything really big, hyung. Just being able to microwave a dinner would be enough.” Chanyeol whined.

“Goodbye, Yeol. I’ll talk to you later.” The other said with a slight chuckle.

“Okay. Be safe, Baek.”

 

Chanyeol didn’t mean to wait so long before bringing up Baekhyun to Kris. He really wanted to, but he got nervous every time he tried. Baekhyun’s words always floated around in the back of his mind and he worried about the possibility of if Kris said no. He’d hate to have to call his friend and tell him that he wasn’t able to find him a home. And then to go to sleep at night, snuggled in Kris’s arms while Baekhyun was still stuck at that gross store. And even though Baekhyun always told Chanyeol to expect the worst, deep down inside, he truly hoped that Chanyeol’s owner would say yes.

So when Chanyeol showed up one morning with a tall, handsome blond man, and Chanyeol’s tail wagging a mile a minute, he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. He looked at his friend and tilted his head, asking if the situation was truly what he thought it was. Once he received an energetic nod from the silver beagle, he ran over to his friend and enveloped him in a hug, tears silently making their way down his cheeks. The taller men softly patted his back and hair as the workers begrudgingly got Baekhyun’s few items and gave Kris his papers.

Once they got home, Chanyeol wasted no time showing Baekhyun around the house. He took him to every room, explaining what went on in each room in great detail, almost as if he was giving a tour. Kris remained downstairs to prepare a hot plate of last night’s leftovers for the new hybrid. He knew the dog probably hadn’t had a decent meal in years. The two young dogs returned after what felt like 15 minutes and met Kris in the kitchen. He talked to Baekhyun about the rules of the house, which were basically to not use any machines without Kris’s permission, not to make too much noise to upset the neighbors, and not to over eat. The brown furred hybrid was surprised by how lax Chanyeol’s owner was. He didn’t require anything from them other than just to not destroy his house or deplete his food stock. The dogs didn’t have to lift a finger.

But of course they did. Chanyeol still did most of the cooking while Baekhyun took to chores like sweeping and laundry, claiming that they were much easier. And Kris was actually surprised by how quiet and clean the two hybrids were together. When he first realized that he now had 2 beagles, he figured he start coming home to dirty dishes and messed up furniture no matter how much the boys promised that they’d be never do such things. He certainly didn’t expect to come home to the two quietly watching dramas every day, with Baekhyun’s head most often being in Chanyeol’s lap, while the younger boy stoked his ears and fed him snacks.

“Geez, get a room you two.” The eldest would jokingly say as he came in the house.

“This is our room.” Baekhyun would whine as he sat up, allowing Chanyeol to help Kris take off his coat and shoes.

“I just better not come home to you two making out in here. I might bring friends over here.” Both dogs rolled their eyes at their owner as Chanyeol snuggled up to Kris and Baekhyun resumed his position on Chanyeol’s lap. They’d both met most of Kris’s friends already and all of them knew how overly affectionate the hybrids were. Some understood as they had hybrids of their own. They’d heard and witnessed personally from Xiumin several times before about how his rare deer hybrid Luhan literally acts like a leech whenever he’s home. And how Suho has to physically pull his bunny, Lay, off of his cat, Sehun, just so the feline can have some alone time. It was all so natural to all of them now, so the hybrids saw no reason to hold back.

 

Everything was going great between the three and Kris never imagined it changing.

 

“Um, Kris hyung?” Baekhyun said one night as the two older boys were holding clothes.

“Yes Baek?” His owner replied.

“Um well, I just wanted to ask. If you’d be okay with…” Baekhyun began, folding a towel much smaller than it needed to be.

“Okay with…” Kris continued.

“With…fostering a hybrid.” The brown furred dog said quietly.

 

Which was how Chen ended up living with them.

 

Chen was yet another beagle hybrid that Baekhyun and Chanyeol had met one day while they were out shopping for groceries. The small hybrid was sitting out in front of the supermarket, his hands not even visible in his longer oversized sweater, as his arms wrapped around his body, clearly trying not to freeze as the cold weather had just started picking up. The two housedogs immediately sympathized with the young boy, offering him some new clothes and a meal from the store. The hybrid would always smile and politely decline, insisting that he was alright. But they knew that he wasn’t. One early morning Baekhyun approached him asking his name and where he lived.

The beagle replied that his name was Jongdae and that he had no home. Baekhyun offered to bring him to Chanyeol’s old hybrid home if he needed a place to stay, but Jongdae immediately rejected the offer. He had no desires to work for a bunch of humans for no pay. He wanted a home where he’d be treated like a creature with a soul. Chanyeol later went back with Baekhyun and insisted that his old residence would treat Jongdae well, but it was clear that the boy did not trust humans. Still, the beagles couldn’t bear to see one of their own breed living in such conditions. He didn’t even have a roof over his head or a guaranteed meal. And it was clear to anyone with eyes that he was starving. Though he was wrapped up in his large blue sweater, Chanyeol and Baekhyun could see from his thin face that he was malnourished. One day Chanyeol couldn’t take it anymore and he went down to the market to bring Jongdae home for a nice meal and shower. He and Baekhyun had arrived to see a beagle with a fresh black eye, bruises decorating his body, and one sleeve of a sweater covering his right arm. Chanyeol scooped the boy in his arms and immediately made their way home. While Baekhyun tended to his wounds and ran a bath, Chanyeol prepared a large warm meal. As the pup bathed, Baekhyun went down with Jongdae’s lonely ripped sleeve.

“I don’t want to let him go back there.” He said to Chanyeol, his eyes focused on the floor.

“Me neither.” The younger replied. “But I don’t know if Kris would want a stray hybrid.” Chanyeol said sadly. Hybrids were looked down upon in general, but a stray was the lowest of the low. They were thought of as less than dirt. Filthy, disease ridden pests. Chanyeol wouldn’t doubt that Kris would offer to help Jongdae if he’d had an old owner or lived at a sanctuary like he and Baekhyun had. But even he didn’t know what Kris’s opinion on strays was.

“I mean, technically he’s free. It’s not like he has to pay someone to get him.” Baekhyun said.

“Yeah, but it won’t be free having to take care of him for the rest of his life.” Chanyeol explained. The two stood in silence at the thought of having to send Jongdae back on the streets. No matter how tough the young beagle acted, it was clear that the streets were no place for him. He was no regular old stray, he was an abandoned house dog.

“Well, maybe...maybe we could talk to Kris and convince him to let Dae stay for a while. Just until we can find him a person who’ll take him in.” Baekhyun said, wrapping his arms around the younger hybrid.

“Hm, he might not mind that. But I don’t know.” Chanyeol replied, stirring the soup slowly.

“You were the one who told me to keep hope that he’d say yes for me.” Baekhyun said, pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s neck. “Let’s hope that he’ll do the same for Dae.”

Chanyeol smiled as he nodded his head.

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun had Jongdae wait outside in the backyard before speaking to Kris about the matter later that night. They wanted to pick the right moment, so the older beagle decided to ask while they were folding clothes. Chanyeol thus went outside to join Jongdae to comfort him and keep him company.

“I appreciate all of this, but your owner is going to say no.” Jongdae said, playing with the sleeves of the new sweater Baekhyun had given him.

“Just wait. He’ll say yes. He said yes to me for Baekhyun, so he’ll say yes again. And even if he doesn’t, Baek and I will still help you find a home regardless.” Chanyeol insisted.

“You and Baekyun weren’t strays. And you’re both purebred.” Jongdae mumbled.

“You’re not a purebred?” Chanyeol asked. He could immediately smell the fear radiating from the smaller dog once he’d realized what he said. Right as Jongdae looked like he was about to answer, Chanyeol received a text message on his phone.

“He said yes!” the silver beagle shouted after viewing his phone.

“What?” Jongdae asked, certain that he was hearing incorrectly.

“C’mon let’s go upstairs, you have to meet him.” Chanyeol said, yanking the boy along.

Jongdae explained how he’d been struggling on the streets for about a year to Kris who was visibly holding in his anger and sadness about what had happened to the hybrid. He told the pup that he was welcome to stay as long as he needed to with one condition.

“Condition?” Baekhyun asked confused. Neither he nor Chanyeol thought Kris would ever make Jongdae do something to stay with them.

“Condition like what?” Jongdae asked, a bit of sass in his voice. Chanyeol pinched him and Baekhyun growled quietly, telling him to be polite and respectful. The other beagle bowed his head in apology.

“Well, I was just going to say that…um your name is a bit hard for me to pronounce. So can I give you a nickname?” Kris asked. The beagles were shocked that this is what Kris’s concern was. They figured he was nervous about Jongdae’s stray “status” and would want to take him to the vet or make him sleep on the floor in the living room, or something along those lines.

“Um, sure I guess.” Jongdae replied, not really knowing what to say.

“Can I call you Chen?”

“Er, sure. But why Chen?”

“It’s Chinese right?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yeah, it means orange. I just thought of it because of the orange pants you’re wearing.” Kris replied sheepishly.

“Well, I prefer pink, but alright. I guess I’ll be Chen.” And with that, the other two beagles happily engulfed Chen in a hug, slobbering kisses all over his face.

“Ugh, get a room.” Kris laughed, patting Chen on the head. Even though Kris had said that he’d only house Chen until he found a place to stay, looking at the three beagles in front of him, it was clear that the young dog was not doing anywhere anytime soon.

 

Kris learned a lot about Chen in his first few weeks at the house. First of all, though the boy never said it himself, it was clear that he truly was an abandoned house dog. The very first morning, after washing up in the bathroom, he padded straight to the TV and put on a drama. He knew exactly what channel he wanted and everything. When Kris joined him on the couch, Chen went straight to him and laid his head in his lap, demanding to be petted. And while Chanyeol never got a definite answer from the boy, it did seem most likely that he was indeed a mixed breed and possibly a mixed species hybrid. His hair was very fluffy, almost poodle-like unlike Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s hair. He also had very feline eyes and lips that curved like a cat’s. At first Kris thought it might just be coincidence, but after seeing Chen’s personality in action he knew it had to be the case. Chen was stubborn. He wanted his way and nothing else. If he wanted food and it wasn’t lunch time, he’d whine and while until Kris gave in or Baekhyun scolded him and told him to go sit down. And if the latter happened, he’d pout in the corner until lunch. That was why he had no desire to go to a hybrid home where he’d likely be put to work. He wanted to be pampered. Chen also, unlike the other dogs, had no real desire to please Kris. Though he had no problems cooking for him or doing chores if asked, he was much more content to sit with Kris and be petted while the other dogs prepared the food rather than doing anything himself.

 

Kris and the others were sure of it. Chen was part cat.

 

None of them ever brought it up even though they all knew. Chen even knew that they knew. It’s not like he didn’t notice how Kris would pat Chanyeol and Baekhyun on their heads, while he instead stroked Chen’s cheeks and lightly rubbed his back, even though he was clearly more dog than cat. None of them minded though. Kris and Chanyeol were actually quite pleased with the fact. Kris had always wanted a cat hybrid when Suho first mentioned the topic about a year ago considering that they were low maintenance. He’d also learned that Chanyeol had quite a fascination with cats. He was intrigued by how differently they acted as compared to dogs. How they walked smoother and how their mannerisms were more refined. Chanyeol had even mentioned to Kris and Baekhyun during one of their night time cuddle sessions how he actually wished he would have been purchased by someone with a cat or cat hybrid before he’d met Kris. And of course Kris was quick to allow him to visit Suho so he could play with his cat hybrid, Sehun. Still, Kris never let his dreams of owing a cat hybrid go. He’d always felt bad that they weren’t as sought after and really wanted to own one and give it a nice life.

The problem was now that he had three dog hybrids, and though his dogs were good with cats, he knew that most cat hybrids hated dog hybrids. They hated their extreme neediness and ridiculous desire to please their owners. But more so than anything, they were jealous at how sought after dogs were while cats tended to be ignored in favor of almost every other hybrid. Kris wasn’t worried about his dogs reactions’ upon being told that they’d be living with a cat so much as the cat’s reaction after being told that they’d be living with 3 beagles.

 

“Have you noticed Kris acting weird lately?” Baekhyun asked as he passed a newly washed dish for Chanyeol to dry.

“Hm? Not really.” Chanyeol replied.

“He has been pretty distant lately.” Chen added, chewing a piece of bacon as he watched from one of the dining room chairs.

“He didn’t even want to cuddle last night. We always cuddle.” Baekhyun pouted.

“He’s probably just really tired from work. They’ve been giving him a lot more work to do lately.” Chanyeol reasoned as he put away another plate.

“It’s getting close to Christmas.” Chen said.

“Yeah, busiest time of the year.” Chanyeol added.

“Also the time when people dump their hybrids.” Chen said sadly. The other dogs froze mid dish pass.

“What are you talking about Chen?” Chanyeol asked.

“I’m just saying. Christmas is when humans need as much money as possible to buy all their friends gifts. Ditching hybrids because they’re too expensive around Christmas time is so common that it’s not even looked down upon.” The curly haired hybrid replied.

“Kris wouldn’t get rid of us like that.” Baekhyun said, finally handing Chanyeol the plate.

“You never know. Maybe that’s why he’s been so distant. Maybe we’re taking up too much of his resources.” Chen said as he walked over to the other boys.

“Kris makes more than enough money to care of all four of us.” Chanyeol stated, his eyes still fixated on the dishes.

 

It was true. After Chen moved in, Kris had started looking for a better job to be able to provide for himself and his hybrids better. He was blessed in that Suho, whose family owned an extremely successful clothing franchise which he had started taking charge of, had recently had an employee quit and very high position in one of their stores and offered Kris the job. He was making more money than even his parents had ever made and was having no issues spoiling himself and his hybrids. It was honestly ridiculous to think money was an issue for Kris right now.

“Maybe he just doesn’t want to spend all that money on a bunch of dogs anymore.” Chen continued.

“And why all of a sudden would he not?” Baekhyun asked.

“Maybe he found a new girlfriend or something.” Chen muttered. And Chanyeol lost it.

“He’s not getting rid of us, so shut up!” The tallest beagle yelled. Both Baekhyun and Chen quietly stared at Chanyeol for a minute. Baekyun, lightly smacked Chen on the head.

“Just go in the living room and watch TV or something Jongdae.” He growled. Chen lowered his eyes to ground.

“Sorry.” He said quietly before walking off. Nowadays the others only called him by his birth name when he’d really messed up. When they were pissed. Baekhyun had no intentions of telling Kris or punishing the boy himself. His main concern was on Chanyeol, who was clearly upset by Chen’s words.

“Look man, you know that’s not true. Kris doesn’t have a girlfriend and he’s not abandoning us. Dae’s still just insecure after what happened to him.”

“I know.” Chanyeol said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

“C’mon, don’t do this to me.” The older dog whined. “You know I hate seeing you like this.”

“I’m sorry, hyung.” Chanyeol whimpered. Baekhyun pulled the taller hybrid into a hug.

“Kris would never do that to us. He loves us. He loves you.” Baekhyun said, stroking Chanyeol’s back.

“I know. I’m sorry.” The pup said again.

 

It wasn’t a secret to anyone in the house that Chanyeol had a crush on Kris. Though he loved his 2 other housemates as well, he had a special connection to Kris. Ever since he met him it had been an instant attraction, and Chanyeol never wanted there to be another day where he didn’t see Kris. The puppy latched to his owner constantly and so long as he was in the house, Chanyeol would be at his side. He always got the best, closest spots next to him when they slept or cuddled. He’d make the largest plates for Kris at meal time despite the fact that he ate the least out of anyone in the house. He’d feed Kris like his child, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. These days it was often Chen and Baekhyun telling the taller members of the house to “get a room”.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s embrace was interrupted by the sound of Kris walking through the door. Baekhyun quickly thumbed the tears away from his friend’s eyes before sending him into the front to greet their owner.

“Hey Yeol.” Kris said, upon locking eyes with his silver beagle.

“Hi, hyung.” Chanyeol said, helping his owner take off his shoes. Chen had already put his coat away.

“You okay? Your eyes look a bit red.” Kris said, cupping Chanyeol’s head in his hands. “You’re not getting sick are you?”

“No, hyung. I’m fine.” The hybrid said, his eyes fluttering closed.

“Ok. Well, be careful, all of you. It’s getting colder out and I don’t need any sick hybrids.”

“Okay.” Chanyeol responded. At that moment, Baekhyun walked into the room.

“Hello, hyung. How was work?” he asked gleefully.

“It was pretty good. And there’s actually something I need to talk to you all about.” Kris said, rubbing his fingers over Chanyeol’s palm. Chen and Baekhyun could both sense Chanyeol’s uneasiness following Kris’s sentence, but they all followed him up the stairs without saying anything further.

 

They sat on the bed as Kris removed his socks and took of his work shirt, leaving him in a thin undershirt and his work pants. The short beagles noticed how Chanyeol eyes roamed Kris’ chest and how he’d begun quietly panting. Kris never tended to say anything when his hybrids panted. He just assumed it was “a dog thing” and that there was no reason to ask about why they did it anyway.

“What is it, Kris?” Baekhyun asked.

Kris took a deep breath and stared talking. “Well, I’ve had something on my mind for a long time and I think it’s finally time that I ask you guys for your opinion.”

“Our opinion?” Chen questioned.

“Yes, because it affects you guys too.” Kris continued.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asked, ceasing his panting.

“How would you guys feel if a cat lived here?” the tall blond finally asked. Chanyeol’s eyes opened as wide as dinner plates.

“We’re getting a cat?” he asked, a smile tugging at his lips. His tail already started to wag.

“I’m not saying he’s going to definitely be my cat like you guys are my dogs. But he’d live here for a while just to get used to being in a house and being around dogs.”

“So we’re getting a cat?” Chanyeol asked, about ready to pounce on Kris.

“When is he coming? Who is he?” Baekhyun asked.

“If you guys are okay with it, he’d move in in 2 days.” Kris answered, bracing himself for the tackle.

“Of course we’re okay with it!” Chanyeol exclaimed as he finally dove on Kris’s stomach. “OMG, we’re finally getting a kitty!”

“What’s his name?” Chen asked as he crawled over to Kris’ left side. Baekhyun snuggled up to his right.

“His name is Zitao and he was staying with my friend D.O. and his dog Kai, but they said that it wasn’t working out. They asked if I could keep him and I said we’d house him for a while and see how he likes it and he can stay if he wants to.” Kris replied as he tried to push Chanyeol off of his chest.

“He’s Chinese?” Chanyeol asked.

“Yeah, and that’s one of the reasons why I want to keep him actually.” Kris answered, his gummy smile making its rare appearance. Chanyeol smiled as well, and made a mental note to tell the other 2 dogs to be extra nice to Zitao.

“What does he look like?” Chen asked.

“Yeah, is he cute?” Baekhyun asked. “Only cute pets can stay here.” Kris rolled his eyes as he scrolled through his phone. They all knew he was joking. Obviously none of them would reject a new housemate based on appearance. It would just be a nice bonus.

“Actually, he is pretty cute.” Kris replied as he pulled up the picture. “Here’s a picture D.O. took of him when he brought him home.” All of the beagles shoved each other to get a good look at the cat. In the picture sat a very tall, yet very adorable boy with large glasses on his face. He was sitting at a table, eating what appeared to be some type of fish and had obviously been taken of guard and told to smile mid chew. Chanyeol made another mental note to go shopping for fish first thing in the morning as he continued examining the cat. He had midnight black hair with two fuzzy, pointed ears sticking out. His long, heavily plumed tail was wrapped around his arm that was closest to the camera.

“How old is he?” Baekhyun asked.

“I believe Kai said he was just a bit older than him, so he’s probably 20.”

“Wow, he’s a baby.” Baekhyun exclaimed. “He’s younger than Yeol even.”

“It’ll be like having a baby brother.” Chen said.

“Finally, I won’t be the youngest anymore.” Chanyeol said cheerily.

“Not that you even act like it. You’re a terrible dongsaeng.” Baekhyun said. Chanyeol responded by kicking the older boy’s shin.

“What breed is he?” The silver puppy asked.

“I think he’s a Li Hua Mao.” Kris said.

“I’ve never heard of a cat like that.” Chen said.

“I’m not surprised. They’re a rare Chinese breed and most hybrids only live in China.” Kris explained.

“He’s so cute, I can’t wait to meet him.” Baekhyun squealed.

“Now hold on you guys.” Kris began. He gently pushed Chanyeol off of him and sat up. “We need to go over a few things first.” All eyes were on Kris as he started to explain.

“Tao is really, really shy around new people and hybrids. He hasn’t been in Korea for that long, so his Korean isn’t too good yet. He struggles with words and still has a strong accent so it makes him nervous to speak. I don’t want any of you bugging him or trying to make him talk if he doesn’t want to. And no making fun of him if he says anything weird…Baekhyun.” Kris says, eyeing the beagle in question.

“Me?! Why are you singling out me?” the oldest hybrid whined.

“You know you have a habit of mocking people with odd accents or when people say something funny. Don’t do it with Tao.” Kris said sternly.

“I won’t.” Baekhyun said with a pout.

“I mean it. He’s already had enough stress and I don’t want my own dogs making it worse.” Kris said.

“Aigoooo. I’m not gonna make fun of him.” Baekhyun whined with his face in a pillow.

“Good.” Kris said, nodding his head. Chanyeol nodded right behind him. “Now lets’ go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow to get ready for Tao.”


	2. Kitty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. We've got Tao which means more fluff :) I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

Chanyeol stood at the stove as a large slice of salmon cooked. Though he hadn’t move from the spot since he’d started cooking, he couldn’t have been less focused on the meal in front of him. Kris had gone to D.O.’s house to pick up Tao half an hour ago and would be back any minute. His fellow beagles were in the kitchen with him, but didn’t seem nearly as nervous. Baekhyun was pacing the floor on all fours, though the huge smile on his face and endless chatter with Chen proved him to be more excited than nervous. Chen was sitting at the table snacking on a slice of cake as he conversed with the eldest beagle, clearly not a worry in the world.

Honestly, even Chanyeol himself wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. Kris had already mentioned how they were beyond prepared for the new house member. Chanyeol however had taken extra measures wanting everything to be perfect. He’d stocked up on more than enough kitty friendly snacks, having bought almost 60,000 won (50 bucks) worth of seafood. He’d cleaned up every room in the house to the point that it looked as if the home were brand new. He threw away all citrus foods knowing that cats detest the smell, much to the dismay of Kris who will now have to go without freshly squeezed orange juice in the mornings. Overall, everything seemed fine.

“Dude, how many of those are you going to make?” Chen asked.

“What?” Chanyeol asked, barely hearing the question.

“You’ve made like 3 fish already.” Baekhyun stated. “I don’t think the new guy is going to be that hungry.”

Technically, that wasn’t true. Chanyeol had fried three catfish, seared two salmon, and even prepared a fresh lobster with a lemon sauce and a side of butter. To say Tao would be receiving the royal treatment would be an understatement. 

“You didn’t even do any of this for us when we came.” Baekhyun said, jokingly. Neither he, nor Chen ever expected such high treatment from Chanyeol or Kris and of course didn’t mind that he wanted Tao’s first day home to be so special.

“I just want everything to be good enough for him.” Chanyeol sighed as he finally took the fish out of the pan.

“Good enough? What is he, the emperor of China or something?” Chen laughed.

“I mean, Kris has always wanted a cat and I want this to work for him. He’s even a rare Chinese breed. Kris would be devastated if Tao didn’t like it here.” Chanyeol whined, his ears dropping slightly.

“He’ll love it here.” Chen responded, wagging his tail.

Before anyone else could say another word, the sound of Kris’s car pulling up in the driveway reached their ears.

“He’s back with the kitty!” Chen said, making a dash into the living room. Chanyeol sighed as he removed his apron.

“C’mon buddy. Let’s go meet him.” Baekyhun said with an outstretched hand. The two beagles arrived in the room right as Kris opened the door.

“Hey guys.” Kris said, sporting his large gummy smile, seeing his puppies waiting for him and the new pet. “Look who’s here.” There were two long, skinny arms wrapped around Kris’s waist. A black tail was wrapped tightly around the newcomer’s own leg. He poked his head slightly from behind Kris’s shoulder, interested in seeing his new home. Behind his glasses, the dog-hybrids could see the curiosity in the cat’s eyes.

“Hello, Tao.” Chanyeol greeted quietly. “My name is Chanyeol.”

“Hi, I’m Baekhyun!” the eldest beagle said, a bit too loud for Chanyeol’s liking. He didn’t want Tao to be afraid.

“I’m Jongdae, but these guys call me Chen. Curtesy of Kris hyung.” Chen said.

“Annyeong haseyo.” Tao whispered.

“Waaahh! Oh my gosh, he’s so cute!” Baekhyun squealed. Kris closed the door and walked Tao to the sofa.

“Would you like us to take your stuff upstairs Tao, or do you want us to keep it down here?” Kris asked, stoking the cat’s ears. Tao responded in Mandarin, leaving the beagles confused.

“Okay, we’ll keep them down here. Make sure you practice your Korean. We don’t want you having any troubles.” Kris said in Korean.

“Okay, ge.” Tao answered.

“We’ll help you with your Korean, Tao.” Chanyeol added. Tao nodded, but didn’t look towards Chanyeol. He hadn’t made much strong eye contact with the beagles and appeared to be quite nervous.

Chanyeol had studied cats for a while after he began living with Kris. He owned several books about felines and feline hybrids that he’d gone through several times over. After finding out that Chen had cat DNA, he returned to his books and re-read them once again to perfectly accommodate the new housemate. When the news of Tao living with them came out, Chanyeol went out and bought even more books, studying even longer and harder than ever about cat behavior. None of the others understood why Chanyeol felt it was so necessary. He, like most healthy hybrids, was perfectly capable of determining another hybrid’s mood simply by their smell. Still, the silver beagle insisted that his book knowledge is what helped him.

Tao was very clearly nervous. He was still standing very close to Kris, almost behind him, as if he was trying to create a barrier between him and the beagles. His ears were also angled slightly forwards. They weren’t flattened against his head, but also not fully erect, showing that he wasn’t fully at ease with his surroundings. Tao’s tail was still wrapped around his leg, and the tip twitched every few seconds. Neither Kris nor any of hybrids really needed a book to tell them that Tao was not comfortable.

“Are you hungry? Chanyeol made you some fish for lunch.” Chen stated.

“Um, not really hungry.” Tao responded.

“It looks really good though. Like something for a fancy restaurant.” Baekhyun added.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to eat now if you don’t want to.” Chanyeol said quickly. “I’ll just leave it in the fridge for later.”

“Yes.” Tao said. Chanyeol heard a muffled chuckle and promptly glared at Baekhyun. Said beagle, turned away nervously and quietly exited the room.

“What do you want to do, Tao?” Chen asked as gently as he could. Tao looked at Kris and Chanyeol could vaguely hear a small whine from his throat.

“What’s wrong? Is it a word you don’t know?” Kris asked. He was caressing one of Tao’s hands in his own.

“I…sleep, please?” the cat finally responded.

“You want a nap?” Came Chen’s voice.

“Yes please.” Tao said, his eyes actually looking at Chen this time.

“Okay, I’ll take you up to my room.” Kris said, as he led Tao towards his room. As Kris and the kitten made their way upstairs, Chanyeol flopped down on the couch, clearly upset. Chen sat down in the taller beagle’s lap, and wrapped his arms around his neck.

“What’s wrong?” Chen asked.

“He doesn’t like it here, hyung.” Chanyeol whined.

“He just got here. He’s probably just tired and will be more active later. Cats are like that you know.” The curly haired hybrid responded. Chanyeol couldn’t help but chuckle, as the smaller boy was more likely to know about a cat’s mannerisms considering his genes.

“Yes, you’re right. I just hope he’s not afraid of us.” Chanyeol said.

“Why would he be?” The two dog hybrids looked towards the kitchen door to see Baekhyun with a sandwich in his mouth.

“Well, you laughed at him.” Chanyeol scolded, a pout forming on his face.

“I didn’t! I was so happy because he was so cute!”

“Bull.” Chanyeol muttered. Suddenly, the boys heard Kris’s door close. The dog hybrids waited in anticipation for Kris to join them. Once the man reached the couch, the dogs made space for their owner to sit down; and as usual, Chanyeol cuddled up the closest.

“How is he feeling hyung?” The tallest puppy asked.

“He’s fine, just a bit nervous. He’s still pretty wary of dogs and he knows his speech isn’t the best right now. So he probably won’t be talking much.” Kris ran his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair as he spoke. “He said he’ll eat after he wakes up.”

“That’s good.” Chanyeol responded with a yawn. He wrapped his body around Kris and prepared for a nap of his own. Chen and Baekhyun decided to leave the two to have their moment. They all knew that Kris would probably be spending most of his time at home with Tao to get him more accustomed. The short beagles wanted Chanyeol to have as much alone time with Kris as possible. It also allowed them to cuddle in peace without anyone telling them to get a room.

 

Kris had planned on taking a small nap himself, but found himself unable to avert his eyes from the tall puppy hybrid latched to his side. To a total stranger, it probably would have looked odd. Almost as if he was examining Chanyeol; burning the beagle’s face into his memory. His hand brushed across the dog’s cheek ever so delicately, as if applying any more pressure would break Chanyeol. It wasn’t a rare action, but often times Kris didn’t even realize that he did it. It just came naturally to him to treat the hybrid as if he were an actual puppy. And thus, Kris sacrificed his sleep to soak up as much of his cute hybrid as possible.

After about 2 hours, Chanyeol began to stir. His eyes slowly fluttered open as he took in the sight of his owner’s small gummy smile and half-lidded eyes.

“Hyung,” The silver dog said, his voice gruff with sleep. “Is Tao awake? Did he eat?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t checked yet.” Kris whispered in response. Chanyeol immediately pushed himself off of Kris so he could go check on the kitten. Kris ruffled Chanyeol’s hair and gave him a quick peck on the temple before going upstairs.

Chanyeol stood up and stretched. Having stayed up all night to get in one last good kitty study session along with waking up extra early to begin cooking Tao’s meals, he was exhausted. The boy almost wanted to sleep through the rest of the day.

Sleep. That reminded him, where would Tao be sleeping? The obvious answer would be in Kris’s room. It would be harsh to send him off into the guest room alone when he’d be so much more comfortable with Kris. Plus it would allow them to bond more. But the beagles all slept in bed with their owner. Judging by their meeting earlier, the chances of Tao being at ease with three dog hybrids in bed with him was pretty slim. The only real option would be for the beagles to take residence in the guest room until Tao was more accustomed. But…sleeping without Kris…Chanyeol hadn’t done it since he’d been purchased by the taller man over a year ago. Baekhyun and Chen would have their nights where they’d want some “elbow room” as they claim, and sleep on the couch by themselves. Or they’d both leave the taller men to have the bed by themselves if said taller boys were being too obnoxious with their frequent make out sessions. Sleeping with just the other dogs couldn’t be too bad, Chanyeol thought. He’d wait until bedtime to discuss it with Kris. Right now, all that mattered was Tao having a meal.

And just at that moment, the ebony furred hybrid had entered the living room. He must have just been woken up by Kris. He was no longer wearing his glasses, giving Chanyeol a clear view of his eyes, which were quite dark, and barely opened as he wandered about. There was also a backwards baseball cap atop his head that hadn’t been there before. It managed to make the boy look even younger and cuter.

“Are you ready for dinner, Tao?” Chanyeol asked, his eyes hopeful. To his delight, Tao nodded affirmatively. Though he would have liked a verbal answer, he was pleased that the cat responded with little hesitation. The two hybrids made their way into the kitchen where Chen happened to be having a snack.

“Taozi, you’re awake.” Chen barked happily. “Ready to eat?” Once again, the kitten only responded by nodding. Chen opened the fridge and took out one of the plates Chanyeol had prepared earlier. Tao sat down at one of the chairs and rested his head on top of the table, clearly still hungering for some more sleep. Chanyeol simply watched from the doorway, not wanting to crowd Tao and also wanting to study him some more. Baekhyun walked in as Tao’s food finished heating in the microwave.

“Awwwwww, Tao you look so cute.” The eldest hybrid cooed.

“Thank you.” The kitten mumbled, still partially asleep. Chen set the plate before Tao and lightly rubbed at his cheek.

“The food is ready.” He sang. Tao slowly lifted his head, blinking his puffy eyes at Chen. He let out a large yawn, opening his mouth wide and sticking his tongue completely out of his mouth; perfectly fitting for a cat. The beagles had first noticed in the picture that Tao’s lips were exactly like their half kitty Chen’s. They curved upwards giving him an appearance that made him look like he was always smiling. They often wondered if Chen’s cat breed was a Russian Blue, or something along those lines, though they recognized that the feature was also present in other cat hybrids. Seeing them up close in person on Tao was another treat for the puppies.

Since Tao looked too tired to even pick up his own spoon Baekhyun decided to act like a good hyung (for once) and feed the new kitty. Chanyeol had to bite his tongue to stop himself from calling off his hyung. He knew that cat hybrids were very independent and didn’t really care for a lot of the things other hybrids would do with their owners and each other. While the beagles would feed Kris and each other on a daily basis, cats were not fond of such behaviors. They thought it made them seem helpless and infantile. Cat hybrids preferred to portray themselves as being fully independent. That said though, cats did enjoy being pampered to an extent. Normally they’d want their food to be cooked for and brought to them. Being fed the meal by someone else was very rarely tolerated though, at least based on what Chanyeol had read.

Tao however seemed fine with being fed. He opened his mouth for Baekhyun, with light hints from Chen reminding him to be gentle, and overall did not seem upset. Chanyeol could also smell that he was very calm, a complete contrast to how he was earlier that day. With that, the silver furred pup decided to let Baekhyun continue, figuring that it was better to let them bond than to further separate them. Kris finally made it into the kitchen and immediately stood next to Chanyeol, wrapping his arms around the dog’s waist.

“Well look at this.” The man said with a large smile. “You liking the food, Tao?”

“Yes ge.” The cat responded, his mouth full of fish. Chen had to pinch himself to keep from squealing.

“Good. I’m glad to see you all together. This is what I’ve always wanted.” Kris stated, whispering the last part to Chanyeol. Chanyeol pressed a quick kiss to Kris’s cheek, thrilled to see his owner so happy. He just hoped it would continue. He needed everything to be perfect for Tao so Kris would be happy. And he’d do anything for that to happen.

“Baekhyun, Chen, and I will sleep in the guest room tonight.” Chanyeol said suddenly. Everyone else in the room except Tao, who was too focused on his meal, immediately stared at silver pup in shock.

“What? Why, Yeol?” Kris asked.

“It would be too crowded with all of us in bed. You and Tao should be conformable.” He said with a smile, as if it were totally normal.

“Don’t we get a say in this?” Chen pouted. Baekhyun lightly nipped his arm, soliciting a whimper from the younger.

“We’ll be fine.” The brown haired beagle stated. Kris looks back to Chanyeol, cupping his face with his hands.

“Are you sure, Yeollie?” the tall man asked. He’s never been without his silver pup in bed since he’d purchased him and wasn’t too interested in this new change.

“I’m sure, hyung.”

“What do you think about this Tao?” Kris questioned, causing all eyes to fall on the cat. Tao looked up at the others and slightly shrank in his seat. He looked around at everyone in the room a lets out a quiet meow.

When he finally gave his response, it was in Mandarin and the beagles looked to Kris for a translation.

The tall man sighed. “Okay, it’ll just be for a little while.” He assured his dogs. The beagles nodded, though they clearly weren’t 100% okay with the situation. The forced smiles on their faces confirmed that.

“It’s alright. We’ll be okay.” Chanyeol said.

 

They were not okay. The bed in the guest room was just as spacious and comfy and Kris’s own bed. It was the tall human’s absence that upset the dog hybrids more than anything. Sure they were fine with just cuddling with each other, but usually that was only when they were lounging around during the day for a couple of hours. To sleep all night without their owner, the idea was nearly asinine.

“I don’t like this.” Chen mumbled, and Chanyeol didn’t need to turn the lights on to know that the small beagle was pouting. “I want Kris hyung.”

“I’m sure this won’t last for long.” Chanyeol assured, his fingers running through Chen’s hair.

“This is so unconformable.” Baekhyun whined, squirming around in place.

“Maybe if you lay down normally, you’d feel better hyung.” The silver hybrid replied, rolling his eyes. Baekhyun was currently completely diagonal. His head stuck out from the bottom left side of the covers while his legs were spread wide, jutting out of top, where his dongsangs heads were, and the right.

“I can’t get comfortable no matter which way I am.” The eldest boy barked.

“Ugh, just go to sleep then.” Chen growled. With that, Chen pressed himself closer to Chanyeol, snuggling his head under the taller boy’s chin. Chanyeol wrapped his arms around the pup and slowly closed his eyes.

“It’ll be fine. We’ll be back with Kris before we know it.” Chanyeol mumbled before letting himself fall asleep.

 

The following days were a trial to say the least, from the dogs’ perspective anyway. Kris had taken a few days off of work to help Tao get more situated. Even though the cat hybrid still wasn’t comfortable with being alone with the dogs, he was getting very attached to Kris, which the others were happy for. The boy would follow Kris around the house and eagerly sit on his lap to be petted, a habit common in kittens when around close friends or family. Kris and the beagles had been helping him with his Korean daily and he was slowly, but steadily improving. Chanyeol and Chen made sure to provide him with lots of fishy snacks to reward him during their study sessions. Thanks to their assistance, Tao became much more confident and vocal, much to Chanyeol’s delight. Though he still didn’t speak much to the dogs outside of a few words, he spoke to their owner much more, sometimes to the point that Kris wouldn’t be able to get him to stop the incessant chatter. The beagles simply awaited the day that Tao would be comfortable enough with his speech and with their species in general to have real conversations with him. 

 

As the days went on Chanyeol studied Tao more and more. His books were great and all, but nothing compared to observing the real thing in person. He speculated that Tao, like Chen, had other breeds mixed into his DNA. From his research, he’d found that Li Hua Mao only came in one color, a brown mackerel tabby coat. Tao’s coat, though it appeared full black, actually did have the tabby markings if one looked closely enough. But at first glance, it’s obvious how someone probably wouldn’t think he was a Li Hua Mao hybrid. It wasn’t surprising though. Kris had explained how the breed in itself was rare, so it certainly wouldn’t shock Chanyeol if it turned out that only one of Tao’s parents had the Li Mao blood. If the cats in themselves were rare, human-cat hybrids had to be virtually non-existent.

In looking for other breed that could have produced a black coat, he searched for other cat breeds native to China, but there honestly wasn’t much. Most Asian cat breeds seemed to originate in areas closer to Thailand as opposed to Tao’s homeland. And even then, most of those cats couldn’t have black fur, most instead sporting color-point patterns. Chanyeol was quite upset to not be able to determine what Tao’s mystery other breed was. He wanted to know as much about the other as possible. He’d asked if Chen knew, but he merely shrugged it off with, “He could be anything, Yeol”. In other words, “There’s a huge list of options and I don’t feel like going around and playing cat detective to find it out. Now pet me please.” Chanyeol decided to just let it go and hope Tao would eventually tell him when he became more open with them.

Even though the beagles wanted Kris to get Tao adjusted as soon as possible, they still needed time for themselves with him. The blond man tried to spend as much time with them when Tao was taking his daily naps. It was only so fortunate for the dogs that Tao slept for extremely long periods of time. Whether he was trying to avoid the canines as much as possible or if he really was that tired (he was a cat after all), the dogs didn’t really care. They just needed cuddle time with their owner.

Kris felt pretty guilty. He almost felt like he’d been neglecting his puppies and wanted to show them how loved they were. He’d take Chanyeol out for long walks, allowing him to run off a roll in the dirt. Then he’d give him a long bath when they returned home using Chanyeol’s favorite soap. He’d take Baekhyun outside to play fetch and then feed his favorite treats from his hands. And he’d let the brown hybrid wear his own eyeliner. Kris isn’t sure why the oldest dog liked the stuff so much, but he also really didn’t want to ask. As long as his puppies were happy, he didn’t worry about their strange quirks.

With Chen, he was fine with just sitting with his owner and having some nice conversations, as long as he was being constantly petted and kissed, of course. They’d create long conversations where Chen would go on about every little detail for ten minutes before giving Kris his little moment of input. Chen was the most vocal of all of Kris’s hybrids; so much so that the tall man wondered if the half puppy had any Siamese DNA. The fluffy haired boy would also change his positions on top of Kris’s body about 20 times during their time together, but again, Kris didn’t complain. He just wanted every animal in his house to be happy.

“How have you been, sleeping in the guest room?” Kris asked Chanyeol as the two conversed during an evening. The hybrid flinched. He didn’t want Kris to worry about him. He needed to focus on Tao first and foremost.

“It’s been fine.” He replied without even looking at his owner, an uncommon gesture. “Baekhyun and Chen take good care of me.” It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that Chanyeol was very needy when it came to skinship. He practically craved it. The tall beagle would often latch himself to one of his other housemates and nuzzle against them for hours on end. And through he wouldn’t ask for it like Chen, he thoroughly enjoyed being petted by the others. Specifically, he loved being petted to sleep by Kris at nights. Chen and Baekhyun had tried doing everything they could. They stoked Chanyeol’s fur, his arms, his back, his tummy, under his chin, but nothing seemed to comfort him into his usual slumber. At least not for a long while. The first night they’d been able to get him to fall asleep after 2 hours of excessive petting all over his body. The next night they’d been able to put him down after an hour and a half. Recently, they’d gotten him to go to bed in a bit under an hour after giving him warm milk, several of his favorite toys, and of course a lot of petting.

Chen and Baekhyun couldn’t understand it at first. With Kris, Chanyeol would be out like a light within minutes. The shorter beagles could think of no reason other than Chanyeol’s massive crush on Kris as to how he could get him to sleep so quickly. The silver beagle felt secure with Kris. His arms petting him, his body pressing against him, and even just the man’s aroma made Chanyeol feel at ease. The scent of Kris on Chanyeol’s toys was probably one of the main benefactors of getting the dog hybrid to fall asleep easier within the last few nights.

“Are you sure?” Kris asked. He wasn’t ignorant to the bags he’d been seeing under his puppies’ eyes in the morning. To how they were much more sluggish than usual and barely said anything during breakfast.

“Yes, hyung. We’re fine. Just focus on Tao. How is he anyway?” Chanyeol asked, desperate to change the subject.

“He’s getting better.” The blond said with a smile. “He’s talking more and he says he’s really happy here.”

“That’s good.” Chanyeol said drearily, clearly lost in Kris’s touch.

“I’m just worried about tomorrow.” Kris sighed. Chanyeol stared at his owner’s face of a while, and then took Kris’s free hand in both of his.

“It’ll be okay, hyung.” The dog then pressed a kiss to the man’s hands.

 

It was Tuesday night. Kris had been off of work for 5 days and he’d have to return tomorrow. He was happy with all of the progress Tao had made, but he knew that the ebony kitten still wasn’t comfortable with the dogs.

“Will you be okay while I’m at work tomorrow?” Kris asked the Chinese boy as they lay in bed that night.

Tao mumbled his answer into his pillow. “I think so, ge.” Nervousness was evident in his voice.

“Taozi, the beagles won’t hurt you.” Kris assured. “My boys would never hurt anyone.”

“I know, ge. It’s just…” Tao’s ears flattened against his head as he was unable to express his feelings. “Dogs are so weird.” Kris couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What do you mean weird?” He dangled a cat toy in front of Tao and the cat hybrid batted at the toy bird as he spoke.

“They’re so loud and they smell weird and they bite everything and they run around in the dirt all day…” The cat rambled on. “And they don’t like fish!” Tao exclaimed the last part as such a thing was unheard of.

“Well, most of that is true.” Kris said, tossing a cat nip stuffed mouse plush at the boy.

“And the little one doesn’t like me. The not-curly one…with the eyeliner.” Tao whined.

“Baekhyun likes you. He’s just really vocal and is kind of bummed that you don’t talk to them much. All of them are.” Kris replied.

“Why couldn’t you have bunny hybrids? I like bunny hybrids.” Tao mewed cutely as he held the mouse toy in his teeth.

“Eh, the dogs kind of came to me rather than me getting them.” The blond laughed. Tao lowered his head again. Kris stroked the younger’s hair gently.

“Everything will be fine, I promise. I’ve told the dogs constantly how to make you feel comfortable. But now I need you to know that you need to treat them kindly as well.” Kris said, gently but firmly.

“Okay, ge.”

“I mean it. I’m going to ask them after work tomorrow.” Kris continued in that same soft, gentle voice.

“Yes ge, I’ll talk to the doggies.” Tao said. Kris chuckled at the cat’s word choice and pulled the younger down so they could finally go to sleep.

“Night Taozi.” Kris said.

“Night night, ge.” Tao meowed.

 

The next morning, Kris woke up early to get back into his usual regiment. Chanyeol cooked breakfast as usual while Baekhyun got all of Kris’s work things organized and ready for him to walk out the door. The beagles wanted to be extra helpful for Kris’s first day back at work and their own first day with Tao. Even Chen helped out by assisting Kris in getting dressed. No, he didn’t need help getting dressed, but Chen figured that if he had to work, he’d do something easy. Being able to see Kris without his clothes on was also a nice bonus.

“You guys know my work number in case you need anything, right?” Kris asked, as Baekhyun fed him some eggs.

“Of course.” Chen said, nuzzling into Kris’s arm.

“But we won’t need anything.” Chanyeol stated. “Everything will be fine, hyung.” Honestly, even if something did go wrong, Chanyeol had no intentions of calling Kris. He’d never want to disturb Kris at work or make him worry while he was on the job. He could call Sehun and Lay for advice if there were any “cat troubles”. And Xiumin worked from home and lived close enough that the beagles could go to him if anything went wrong with the house.

“I also have Suho and Xiumin’s numbers on the fridge if something happens and I can’t get home fast enough.” Kris said.

“You’d think we’ve never been home alone with how this hyung is acting.” Baekhyun said sassily, shoving a strip of bacon in Kris’s mouth.

“And please be patient with Tao. I spoke to him last night and he says he’ll try to be more vocal, but please don’t be disappointed if he isn’t.” Kris said very seriously. “Don’t try to force him to talk or ask him a lot of questions.”

“Yes, hyung.” Chanyeol answered for all of them. He was determined to get Tao fully acquainted with them Kris wouldn’t have to worry about them all day. He knew it would be a slow process, but was fine with giving Tao as much time as he needed.

“Alright, I’ve got to go now.” Kris said, as he lightly patted Chen’s head. The curly haired beagle removed himself from his owner’s arm so he could leave. The tall blond man gave each of his puppies a kiss on the forehead before walking out the door. As usual, Chanyeol followed Kris all the way out to the car door, his owner’s bag in tow. Even if it was only for a few minutes, the dog hybrid needed to soak up all the time he could get with Kris before spending all day at work and returning to a room with just Tao at night.

“Have a good day at work, hyung.” Chanyeol said. He gave Kris one final kiss before he handed his owner his items through the window.

“Please just relax today, Yeol.” Kris said, patting the younger’s head. Chanyeol’s tail wagged slowly in pleasure.

“I will, hyung.” The silver dog replied. Kris nodded. He pulled down his sunglasses and rolled up the window as he pulled out of the drive way. Chanyeol stood and watched until Kris had driven all the way down the street and turned the corner. The tall beagle sighed.

“Alright Yeol, let’s do this.” He said to himself before he made his back inside the house.

When Chanyeol returned to the kitchen, he was surprised to see Tao sitting down eating with Chen. Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen, but Chanyeol assumed he’d gone to Kris’s room to make up the bed. 

“Good morning, Tao.” Chanyeol said quietly.

“Good morning, hyung.” Tao mewed. He looked directly at the dog and smiled as he gave his response. Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile in return and his tail thumped against the wall in happiness. The silver pup decided not to try to create anymore conversation, despite how much he really wanted to. He didn’t want Tao to feel too overwhelmed first thing in the morning, so he took Kris’s advice and didn’t push further. He simply made himself and Baekhyun each a breakfast plate and took them in the living room, preferring not to crowd Tao.

From his personal research and observations of Sehun and Lay, cat hybrids preferred to eat alone. Though Sehun would tolerate his rabbit housemate being beside him, he was happiest when having a meal by himself. It didn’t really help that Lay insisted on being everywhere the rare, rainbow furred cat went, though. Chanyeol had also heard that some cat hybrids were known to be comfortable eating with others of their species. Perhaps Tao sensed Chen’s feline DNA and felt fine eating with him. Chanyeol didn’t even realize he’d zoned out until Baekhyun sat down next to him and spoke.

“So are you going to eat it or what?” the brown haired beagle asked, pointing to the breakfast sitting on his dongsaeng’s lap.

“Huh, oh…yeah.” Chanyeol said as he finally began to eat his now slightly cold eggs.

“So, what’s on schedule for today?” Baekhyun asked, as he too began to eat.

“I guess I’ll clean up a bit. Maybe go shopping for…” the older beagle gave his friend a light jab on his side to stop him from talking.

“No chores.” Baekhyun whined. “Why can’t we just all watch TV together? There’s this great new drama that just started yesterday called Scarlet Heart Ryeo….”

“Kris said we shouldn’t bother Tao. Let’s just let him watch TV by himself.”

“We won’t be a bother.” The older boy whined yet again.

“Just let him do things at his own pace, hyung.” Chanyeol said. Baekhyun sighed and finished his food without any further words.

 

In the kitchen, Tao and Chen had finished eating as well. Chen had put the plates in the sink to be washed and turned back to the cat. Tao sat at table staring down at its surface. It was clear that he didn’t know what he wanted to do next.

“Want to watch TV, Tao?” Chen asked softly. He clutched a water bottle in his hands as he spoke.

“Um, the doggy hyungs are in there.” He responded slowly. Chen chuckled at Tao’s adorable voice.

“Hehehe. Well I don’t think they’d mind if you joined them.” The curly beagle replied. At that moment, Chanyeol walked into the room with his and Baekhyun’s plates, which he quickly deposited into the sink.

“Are you going to wash these dishes, hyung?” Chanyeol asked the smaller beagle. Chen burst out into his signature laugher and joined Baekhyun in the living room. Chanyeol sighed. He wasn’t bothered by it. It’s not like Chen ever did chores willingly. He just felt so stressed with everything going on right now.

“You can watch TV in the living room if you want, Tao.” The beagle said.

“Um, okay.” The ebony kitten replied quietly. He got up and slowly walked into the living room. Chanyeol turned on the water to begin washing the dishes. He yawned. Last night was another rough one for him. He hadn’t gotten to sleep until 2 am and even that was a process. He remembered hearing Chen and Baekhyun singing about 10 different songs in an effort to get him to sleep. Then once he did get to sleep, he kept having strange dreams about Kris. Dreams where the blond man would avoid him for the most part. He’d only speak to him to simply give him orders of chores to complete. It was nothing like the man in real life, obviously, so Chanyeol couldn’t understand why these dreams were happening. After he finished the dishes, Chanyeol felt an urge for skinship. He figured a nice dose of cuddling with Chen wouldn’t hurt before he made lunch.

The tall beagle went into the living room to see 2 hybrids; neither of which were the one he was looking for. Tao was curled up into a ball on the left side of the couch while Baekhyun slouched awkwardly on the right. Chanyeol could almost see in Baekhyun’s face how it was killing him to be by himself on his side of the couch and not cuddling Tao. But Chanyeol felt that some self-restraint practice was good for his hyung, not to mention a nice punishment for laughing at Tao earlier. He’d make it up to him later that night, though.

“Where’s Chen?” Chanyeol asked.

“Upstairs.” Baekhyun answered simply. Chanyeol nodded and made his way up the stairs. He found Chen rolling around on the guest bed, rubbing his face on the pillows and as much of the sheets as he could. It wasn’t the first time he or one of the others had caught Chen in the act of engaging in feline habits. To be honest, it fascinated the others whenever Chen’s cat instincts came out and he’d do things like rubbing his scent on furniture or kneading blankets. But of course, whenever he was asked about it, he’d just play it off as a “Jongdae-breed dog” thing. Chanyeol walked into the room and flopped on top of the bed before Chen could react.

“Cuddle me, hyung.” He whined, also adding in some aegyo into his voice.

“Such a needy puppy.” Chen said, rolling his eyes. He wrapped himself around the silver puppy’s body nonetheless. The two snuggled and peppered kisses on each other’s faces and necks for about 30 minutes before Chen seemed to get tired. Chanyeol could go on for hours if he was allowed, especially if it was Kris he was cuddling with, but he didn’t want to exhaust his shorter hyung.

“What are Baek and Tao doing?” Chen asked, panting roughly.

“They were watching a drama. I should probably go down and make sure hyung isn’t bothering Tao.” Chanyeol replied in between giving Chen a few more kisses.

“I’m sure he’s fine Yeol. Baek isn’t that irritating. At least when he’s not trying to be.” Chen replied.

“Yeah, but that’s with us and Kris. He’s still not that good with interacting with cats yet.” Chanyeol said with a bit of sadness in his voice.

“None of us really are.” Chen added.

“Well you kind of are since you’re…” Chanyeol just barely caught himself. Everyone may have known Chen’s secret, but that didn’t mean said boy was comfortable talking about it. And none of them were going to push him to if he didn’t want to. “Um…well, you know.” Chen merely hummed in response to Chanyeol’s comment.

“I’m gonna go start lunch.” Chanyeol said.

“Kay, I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Sure thing hyung.” Chanyeol said, as he got up. “And…um…sorry.” If Chanyeol didn’t know any better, he would have almost thought he heard a quiet meow come from Chen’s throat. But the silver beagle simply shrugged it off.

 

Chanyeol walked through the living room quickly as he progressed to the kitchen. He moved so fast that he hadn’t noticed that Baekhyun was no longer on the sofa; for the brown haired beagle was sitting at the dining room table, munching on a piece of chicken. All of the dog hybrids adored chicken, but their owner hated buying it for them. He said it was far too unhealthy for the dogs to eat so frequently, but he disliked giving off the vibe of an overly concerned parent. Instead, Kris gave the excuse was that it “wasn’t his style”, whatever that meant, and that he didn’t want anything in the house that he wouldn’t eat himself. Nevertheless, he couldn’t resist spoiling his puppies with things they loved, so he would go out and surprise them with some fried chicken on occasion. It was worth it to see the happy expressions on their faces when they ate it.

“What happened with Tao? Is he upset?” Chanyeol asked.

“No, I am!” Baekhyun growled.

“What did you do to him?” Chanyeol asked, eyeing his hyung suspiciously.

“I didn’t do anything. I tried to make small talk about the show and he barely talked to me.” The older puppy pouted.

“Kris hyung said not to push it.” Chanyeol scolded.

“I didn’t! Aigoooooo.” the shorter dog whined.

“You should read my books. They teach you how to interact with cats properly.” Chanyeol said as he took out the skillet to start making his meal.

“Those books won’t help anyone. Everything they say is all wrong.” Baekhyun replied.

“Well what you’re doing isn’t much better.

“Both of you are doing it wrong.” Chen said as he walked into the room.

“You have any ideas?” Baekhyun asked, biting his chicken bone in half.

“Actually yes.” The curly haired beagle responded, picking up a chicken leg of his own. Baekhyun rolled his eyes, not expecting much from the younger dog, but Chanyeol was interested. None of them new how much cat DNA the curly actually had. Due to his doggish appearance, they assumed that wasn’t much. But he could just be more outwardly dog and inwardly cat. And when it showed, it was often with regards to his personality. It wouldn’t be out of the question for Chen to have some tricks up his sleeve for getting closer to Tao.

“What do we have to do then, hyung?” the silver beagle asked.

“Just think like a cat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Taozi:3 I just want to make him as cute and fluffy as possible. But the next chapter is the angsty one. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks to all who read and are enjoying the story:)


	3. Trouble in Paradise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. It's quite long and has a little bit of angst, but I hope you all still enjoy it :)

Chanyeol wasn’t sure what Chen was planning. All he’d said was for him to start cooking “something” and to wait for him to come back. Baekhyun was totally lost, and decided to just make himself comfortable and wait. Unfortunately for Chanyeol, the older beagle’s idea of “getting comfortable” was to wrap himself around the silver beagle’s legs, making it impossible for the taller boy to move.

“What’s he doing up there?” The smaller dog lazily whined. “He’s been upstairs for like 10 minutes.”

“Beats me, hyung.” Chanyeol replied with a sign, stirring the soup in the pot.

Almost as if he had heard them, Chen returned downstairs wearing one of his favorite pink sweaters and a baseball cap, turned slightly sideways over his beagle ears. Baekhyun immediately noticed a different scent in the air.

“Dude, what the hell kind of perfume is that?” Baekhyun asked, sniffing the aroma vigorously.

“It’s not perfume, hyung.” Chen whined. “It’s catnip.”

“Catnip?” the brown haired beagle questioned. “Geez, did you roll it all over your body or something?”

“I don’t really get it, hyung? Are you trying to lure Tao to you with the smell of catnip?” Chanyeol asked. He remembered from his books that cat hybrids reacted to catnip slightly differently than regular cats. The smell didn’t make them go crazy or anything; it was more like a preferred type of cologne or scented candle.

“Precisely. When dealing with cats, you don’t go to them. You make them come to you.” The fluffy haired boy stated.

“Ah, I understand now.” Baekhyun said.

“But what is the food for?” Chanyeol asked.

“Oh, that stuff you’re making? That’s not for Tao to eat, but keep cooking it. Slowly.” Chen explained.

“Huh, then what’s it for?” Baekhyun asked.

“Just keep cooking, you’ll see.” Chen said as he took the lobster Chanyeol had prepared a few days earlier out of the fridge.

“What are you going to do with that?” Chanyeol asked.

“Geez, so many questions.” Chen chuckled as he put the crustacean in the microwave. Chanyeol wasn’t sure if lobster could be microwaved, but figured Chen knew more about cat food preparation, so he didn’t question him.

“Aish, this kid.” Baekhyun whined. Once the microwave pinged, signifying that the lobster was done heating up, Chen took in out and ran over to sit on the floor next to the screen door.

“How’s that soup looking, Yeol?” Chen asked.

“Um, it should be done in a few more minutes.”

“Great, Baek hyung, call Tao in for lunch.”

“Uh, sure.” Baekhyun said nervously, clearly still confused about the entire ordeal. “Zitao, come on. Lunch is almost ready.”

The ebony kitten peaked in the door and looked around the kitchen before entering. He walked to the table and sat down in the same seat he’d eaten breakfast in. His heavily plumed tail was wrapped around his arm once again.

“Ready to eat, Tao?” Baekhyun asked, unsure if he was supposed to be speaking to the cat. When he looked to Chen for any hints, the half puppy was simply cutting the lobster into smaller pieces.

“Um, yes. What is…to eat?” Tao mumbled. He must be asking, “What’s for lunch”, Baekhyun though. He made a mental note to ask Tao if he wanted to study more Korean after lunch. With a cuddle session thrown in too. If he wanted.

“Yeollie’s making soup.” Baekhyun answered nervousness evident in his voice. He just wished Chen would tell them what he was doing already.

“Ok.” Tao said, playing with his fingers. After a few minutes, Baekhyun noticed Tao’s nostrils flaring. He remembered that cat hybrids tended to inhale scents differently than dogs. When canines caught a scent, they would turn their heads in every direction whiffing the air like a mad man. Cats were more subtle in their approach. Suddenly, Tao also caught sight of the lobster Chen had started to eat. Baekhyun watched carefully as Tao turned towards the curly haired pup, focusing on him intently.

Baekhyun nudged Chanyeol’s leg, urging him to turn around and observe Tao. The silver haired boy turned the fire on the stove down so he could watch Tao with no danger of the food burning. Three minutes passed before Tao slowly, slinked out of his seat and got on all fours. Slowly, he took a few steps closer to Chen.

Chanyeol was in awe of the sight in front of him. Tao’s cat instincts were coming out before their own eyes. He would watch Chen for a minute, and then slowly pad towards him. Then he’d watch for another minute, lower his body to the ground, then pad ever so closely. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had seen kittens do this when they were curious about something, but nervous about how to approach it.

At this point, Chanyeol turned the stove completely off. It was clear that Tao had completely forgotten about the soup. Plus, Chen said that he was never meant to eat it anyway. He and Baekhyun were engrossed in watching the scene in front of them as well. Chen on the other hand continued to eat and hadn’t acknowledged Tao approaching whatsoever. The other beagles were curious as to what he was going to do.

Tao eventually made his way beside Chen. He sat on all fours as he examined the lobster. Then he quickly glanced at Chen, before turning away and adjusting his glasses. He sniffed Chen’s body, clearly picking up the enticing aroma of catnip. And what Tao did next shocked Chanyeol and Baekhyun. The cat rested his head directly on Chen’s shoulder, watching the dog cut piece after piece of lobster and put it in his mouth. Chanyeol was about to whisper to Baekhyun to ask what he thought Chen would do, but his question was answered right in front of him. Chen held up a forkful of lobster and held it in front of the kitten’s mouth. He didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t look at him. He hadn’t done so the entire time.

Tao opened his mouth, cute little kitty fangs showing, and took the lobster off of Chen’s fork. Chanyeol noticed Tao’s tail subtly relax from its position around his arm.

“He’s calm.” Chanyeol thought.

The process continued. Chen would alternate between feeding himself and Tao and the kitten would happily recive the food. His body became less tense as he ate and it was clear that he was enjoying the meal. The other beagles were in awe. Chanyeol was so lost in the moment that he didn’t notice the shorter beagle nudging him. He looked to Baekhyun whose hands were holding the silver dog’s arm.

“Let’s go.” He whispered. Chanyeol nodded and followed Baekhyun into the living room, not wanting to spoil the moment between the others.

 

In the living room, Chanyeol sat down and Baekhyun took his normal spot on his friend's lap. The tall hybrid instantly began petting his hyung’s hair.

“Wow. He actually did it.” Baekhyun sighed in awe. “That kid really is a cat.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of weird to think about, but he’s got it alright.” Chanyeol said.

“No kidding. He knew exactly what to do and how everything was going to go down.”

“We’re really lucky to have him. He’ll be a great help in getting Tao more comfortable with us.” Chanyeol said, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun’s temple.

“Yeah, since now we know exactly what we need to do. We need to let Tao approach us, rather than trying to go straight for him.” The older male replied. Chanyeol chucked quietly.

“It’s funny, because I actually read that in one of my books.” Chanyeol laughed quietly.

“Waeee! Will you stop talking about those books already?” Baekhyun whined. Chanyeol jokingly began playfully nipping at Baekhyun’s face, causing the shorter pup to squirm around in his hold. After a few minutes, Chen walked into the room leading Tao by the hand.

“Hello, Tao” Chanyeol said causally.

“Hi Taozi.” Baekhyun barked.

“Hello, puppy hyungs.” He meowed, smiling. It was an oxymoron, and slightly disrespectful, but the beagles couldn’t help but coo at Tao’s cute voice. They figured Tao simply didn’t know any other words to refer to canines. That reminded Baekhyun.

“Do you want to practice your Korean for a bit, Tao?” he asked.

“Okay Baekhyung. I mean Baekhyun.” The cat replied, sheepishly.

“Is there anything in particular that you want to look at, Tao?” Chanyeol asked.

“Anything is fine.” He said, caressing his tail.

And so, the four hybrids sat down and studied together. Chen situated himself on Baekhyun’s lap on Tao’s right, while Chanyeol sat to the left. They went over a few things; particularly important terminology they figured Tao should know, such as titles to refer to older humans as, some unique Korean expressions, and of course, words that differentiated young and adult animals.

Tao was steadily improving in his speech. Though he still mispronounced a lot of words, his memorization was getting better and rarely was he struggling to remember the words he’d already been taught, as he had done in the first few days. He was also relying less on speaking Mandarin to Kris and would do his best to use as much of his knowledge as possible to communicate his own thoughts, much like during lunch. The dogs couldn’t be more proud.

Chanyeol was also particularly pleased at how comfortable Tao seemed to be. He was making good eye contact and speaking much more. He’d ask the beagles questions about particular words he struggled with. And he’d ask when he should use certain expressions. Overall, everything was going nice and Chanyeol couldn’t wait for Kris to see how they were all getting along. And hopefully soon, they’d all be able to sleep together with his precious owner in bed.

As if by chance, the hybrids heard the sound of Kris’s car pull in the drive way.

“Kris ge is back.” Tao mewed, clasping his tail in his hands. Chanyeol thought it was the cutest thing ever.

“Let’s go outside and greet him!” Baekhyun barked, nudging Chen off of his lap. Tao, Chen, and Baekhyun bounced over to the door. Chanyeol set their study book on the desk and followed the rest outside. Kris had just stepped out of his car when Chanyeol reached the door.

“Welcome home, hyung.” Chanyeol happily barked. Kris waved as he approached his pets. As per their usual habit, Chen and Baekhyun made way for Chanyeol to greet Kris first as he always did. The taller dog’s tail was wagging a mile a minute. Being able to indulge in Kris’s embrace, if only for a few seconds, was the most wonderful feeling in the world for Chanyeol.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Kris asked. He opened his arms to hug his hybrids and was met with an ebony kitten walking into them.

 

Immediately, a loud growl came from Chanyeol’s throat. He barked angrily at the cat.

 

Tao’s hair stood up on end as he hissed and stood behind Kris. The others stared at Chanyeol in shock, having never experienced such a reaction from him. Chen wrapped his arms around Baekhyun and hid slightly behind him. Chanyeol instantly realized what he’d done and stared at his owner and the terrified kitten behind him, shock painted on his face.

“I…I…” was all Chanyeol said before he dashed back in the house on all fours.

Kris’s face was completely unreadable. Never before had Chanyeol growled or barked at anyone in a non-playful manner. The blond man wanted to go up and speak to his pup personally. At the moment though, Tao needed to be dealt with. Tears were streaming down the cat hybrid’s face as he clutched Kris’s body.

“Baekhyun, Chen, go talk to him.” Kris said seriously, pointing in the house. The beagles nodded and quickly made their way upstairs. They already figured where the taller pup had gone.

“Tao. Taozi, it’s okay.” Kris whispered, pulling Tao close. “Let’s go inside, okay.” Tao nodded and let Kris lead him in the house. While Kris took Tao to his room to comfort him, the beagles were down the hall in the guest room.

Chanyeol was squished under the bed, his arms covering his head as he lay in the fetal position. He too was crying as he was trying to wrap his brain around what just happened. Quiet moans and howls made their way out of his mouth.

Why? Why did I do that? It just happened. I don’t get it…why?

Baekhyun and Chen already knew where their younger friend had gone. Hiding under the bed when he felt sad or on one of the rare occasions where Kris got upset at him, was a habit of his.

“Yeollie?” Chen whined quietly. “Are you okay?” Chanyeol gave no reply, only continuing his constant moaning.

“Chanyeol, come out of there.” Baekhyun said a bit stricter. The silver beagle didn’t move. Baekhyun got down on his belly and looked under the bed. “Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol didn’t want to leave. He felt safe under the bed. If he came out, everyone would yell at him. Kris would yell at him. Kris had never yelled at him before. For any of the minor mishaps Chanyeol had committed previously, Kris would quietly talk to him and explain why whatever he did was wrong and why he shouldn’t do it again. But he’d never done anything like this before.

 

He growled at another of Kris’s pets. A particular pet that he’d been wanting forever and one that he only wanted to be happy. A pet that Chanyeol wanted to be happy. And he just growled at him.

 

“Park Chanyeol, get out now!” Baekhyun barked. Chanyeol shivered. He knew Baekhyun was mad. He knew Kris was mad. Though he was afraid of what would happen, he didn’t want to make anyone else unhappy. Slowly, he padded his way out from under the bed.

Instantly, he found himself wrapped in the other dog’s arms. He was still crying and could barely speak, not that he had any way to explained what had just happened anyway.

“Chanyeol.” Baekhyun began, his voice incredibly soft. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Chanyeol said, his voice thick with tears.

“It’s not us you need to apologize to.” Chen said, patting the younger boy’s back.

“I didn’t mean it! I didn’t!” Chanyeol cried.

“What happened, Yeol?” Baekhyun asked.

“I don’t know…”

“Yes you do.” Baekhyun said very seriously. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have growled at him.”

“I don’t know. Why? Why did he…?” Chanyeol continued to wail. “I don’t know!”

“Why did he what?” Baekhyun asked.

“Why?! It’s not fair!” he silver dog began so speak more clearly.

“What isn’t fair?” Chen asked, taking one of Chanyeol’s hands in his.

“I…I was supposed to be first…” he dog cried. “I’m, I’m supposed to go first.”

“You’re upset because Tao hugged Kris first.” Baekhyun stated. He’d known all along what was bothering the boy. He just wanted to hear him say it.

“Chanyeol, Tao didn’t know that we normally do that. This is the first time Kris has gone to work since he moved in.” Baekhyun explained, lightly petting Chanyeol’s ears.

“I…I know, but I…” Chanyeol’s tears were beginning to pour out again.

“We know, puppy. But…what you did was still wrong. It wasn’t fair to Tao.” Chen cooed softly.

“It’s sort of our fault, too. We should have explained it to him.” Baekhyun said.

“I know…I’m sorry.”

“It’s Tao you should be telling that to.” Baekhyun said, wiping Chanyeol’s tears away.

“But…Kris…” the dog whimpered.

“He’s talking to Tao right now but…it would probably be best if you spoke to both of them too.” Chen said.

“Yes. I will.” Chanyeol said. The other dogs continued to comfort their friend and let him spill out all of his emotions. They knew that he truly felt bad for his actions and had only reacted out of shock. One he finished crying, they'd bring him to speak to Kris and Tao.

 

Meanwhile, in Kris’s room, he’d finally gotten the cat hybrid to calm down.

“I’m so sorry Tao. This is all my fault. I should have told you this morning before I left. I’m so stupid.” The blond man said, mostly to himself.

“Ge…sniff…I…what do I do?” Tao asked, clutching Kris’s arm.

“You don’t have to do anything, Tao. I’m going to talk to Chanyeol and tell him to apologize to you.”

“No, please! I don’t…I can’t talk to him. He’ll bite me.”

“Tao, Chanyeol would never hurt you. He’d never hurt anyone. He was just thrown off, I promise.” Kris said, a small smile on his face.

“He’s still mad at me.” The kitten sniffed.

“He’s not, Tao. If anything, he’s mad at me.” Kris insisted.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, ge.” 

“I did and I need to make things right.” Kris said, rubbing Tao’s ears. “May I go speak to Cànliè, please?”

“Um, yes.” Tao’s voice sounded rather uncertain.

“Are you sure? I’ll stay with you if you want.”

“Um…just a few more minutes please.” Tao said hiding his mouth behind his tail.

“Sure thing then.”

 

After about five minutes, Kris was able to rock Tao gently to sleep. He quietly left the room to make amends with his silver beagle.

“May I come in?” Kris asked, after knocking on the door. A brief moment of silence followed his question before Chen and Baekhyun opened the door. As Kris went into the room, the shorter dogs exited. The tall man kneeled down next to his precious puppy and gently placed his hand on the back of his neck, the dog’s favorite place to be scratched.

“Chanyeol, may I speak with you?” Kris asked. The dog noticeably quivered, but still nodded. “Look at me, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol met his owner’s eyes, but was unable to decipher any emotions. He couldn’t tell if the man was mad or just disappointed.

“I’m sorry, hyung.” Chanyeol whispered.

“Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong, it was my fault for not telling Tao about our pattern.” Kris said, stoking Chanyeol’s cheek.

“No, hyung. It was my fault. I should have just waited. It was immature of me to bark at him for hugging you first.” The dog said. “Now he hates me again.”

“He doesn’t hate you Yeol; he never did. He likes all of you. But he is feeling a bit scared and I want you to apologize to him.”

“Yes, hyung. I will.” The hybrid said, nodding his head vigorously.

“He’s sleeping now, but be sure that you do it before bed time.” Kris said.

“Bed. Oh, yes. I will, hyung.” Chanyeol said, a small smile on his lips. Kris frowned. The smile on his hybrid’s face was not genuine. He could tell.

“Are you okay?” the man asked. The pup nodded his head once again, the fake smile still on his face. Kris wasn’t happy ending the conversation. He felt that something was still wrong with Chanyeol, but he didn’t push further in fear of upsetting the hybrid once again.

 

Chanyeol kept his promise and apologized to Tao before dinner. The cat accepted and gave his own apology for upsetting Chanyeol.

“You don’t have to apologize.” Chanyeol said softly. “It was my fault.”

“No, I should have let my hyungs go first anyway.” Tao answered.

“I told you both that it was my fault, so I don’t anyone blaming themselves, okay.” Kris said. All of the hybrids nodded. “Good, now let’s eat.”

At dinner, things were pretty normal for the most part. Baekhyun and Chen led a majority of the conversation while the others listened. Chanyeol and Tao were a bit less vocal that usual, but everyone understood why. They figured things would be back to normal in the morning. After dinner, Chanyeol washed the dishes with Kris watching him, as usual.

“You sure you’re okay, Yeollie?” he asked.

“Yes hyung. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I just want to make sure everyone is okay.” Kris replied.

“I am.”

“Okay, then." the man said, giving Chanyeol a pat on the head. "Well, I’ll be heading to bed early then tonight.”

“Why so early, hyung?” Baekhyun asked.

“I’ve got a long day at work tomorrow so I need as much sleep as possible.” The older man replied.

“Ok hyung, we’ll keep it down.” Chanyeol said.

“Thanks. Tao, are you coming to bed now or do you want to stay up for a little while longer?” Kris asked. Baekhyun didn’t miss the way Chanyeol flinched after Kris asked his question.

“I’ll come now, ge.” Tao said, standing up from the table. “Good night pretty dog hyungs.” He said with a wave, his tail clutched in his hand.

“Yeah, good night guys.” Kris said, rolling his eyes. He already knew Baekhyun had come up with that new title. Baekhyun and Chen bid the others good night as well, but Chanyeol remained oddly quiet. Neither dog seemed to notice, though.

“So…who wants to cuddle?” Baekhyun asked once the others were out of ear range.

 

After about an hour of cuddling on the couch, the beagle line made their way to the bathroom. Chanyeol felt an odd feeling in his stomach as they passed by Kris’s room. It was like a wave of nausea had hit him out of nowhere.

“Is something wrong Chanyeol?” Chen asked as he was brushing the younger’s teeth.

“Huh, uh no. Why?”

“You keep squeezing your eyes shut like you’re in pain.” The shorter dog replied.

“Really? Oh.” It was all the silver pup could respond with. He had no idea why he was feeling the way he was. He and the other dogs assumed he was just tired and needed sleep. Baekhyun and Chanyeol helped Chanyeol finish washing up quickly so that he could go to bed.

 

Sleep didn’t help much either. In fact, it took forever for Chanyeol to get to just sleep. After days of being able to fall asleep in under and hour, Chanyeol had taken one step forward and two steps backward. It took a whopping three and a half hours for Baekhyun and Chen to get Chanyeol to fall asleep. The boy kept tossing and turning, complaining of nausea and being uncomfortable. Tears streamed from Chanyeol’s eyes for hours and he whined for hours. Despite their worries, Chanyeol would moan and whine whenever one of the other dogs suggested to tell Kris.

“Dude, this is bad. I think we need to call a doctor.” Chen said worriedly. He was shivering with his tail between his legs. Baekhyun was so nervous that’d he barely even noticed or cared how informally Chen was speaking. He just wanted to find out what was wrong with his friend.

“I know, but…” Baekhyun began. He knew Chanyeol didn’t want Kris to worry and he didn’t want to stress the boy even further.

“Please…don’t…” Chanyeol moaned. “Kris…busy….don’t…”

“Chanyeol, you’re sick.” Baekhyun said sternly. “Kris will be even more worried if he finds out you knew you were sick and kept it hidden.”

“Please…please, hyung.” The dog whined.

The other dogs sighed. They knew Kris would probably punish them in the morning, but they decided to respect Chanyeol’s wishes. They only hoped they wouldn’t regret it.

 

By 8 am, Kris quietly entered the guest room fully dressed for work. He was a bit confused by the sight in the room. The bed covers were falling halfway off the bed and all of the pillows were on the floor. Baekhyun was laying at the foot of the bed, while Chen was hanging off of the chair in the corner. Chanyeol’s absence was normal, for the dog always got up early to start breakfast. Baekhyun and Chen usually got up to help after Kris came in to wake them. However, said dogs looked exhausted and the room looked like they’d had a wrestling match at some point in the night. And Chen sleeping in the chair rather than the bed wasn’t normal at all.

Kris went over to Baekhyun and gently shook him awake.

“Baekkie, what happened? Why is the bed so messed up?” Kris whispered, cradling the brown haired hybrid’s face.

“Hyung? Huh, oh well…uh…” Baekhyun couldn’t come up with an answer and knew that his stuttering only made the situation look even more suspicious.

“Did something happen last night?” Kris asked, his eyes serious. Baekhyun couldn’t help the whine that escaped his throat. And Kris’s eyes widened.

“Baekhyun, what happened? Why were you laying down here and why is Chen on the chair?”

“We…I…it was just…”

“Tell me Baekhyun. Now.”

“Well, Chanyeol had another rough night.” The dog finally answered.

“A rough night? How rough was it? It looks like he tore the bed apart in his sleep.” Kris demanded, struggling to keep his voice a whisper.

“I think he was having a nightmare or something. He was sweating a bit and kept mumbling something we couldn’t understand.” Baekhyun knew he was greatly understating what actually happened, but he didn’t want Kris to start freaking out before work.

“Is he downstairs now?” Kris asked, already rising to his feet and picking up his stuff.

“Yes.” Baekhyun said. Kris nodded and immediately left the room.

Chanyeol was downstairs, preparing breakfast as usual. Kris dashed down the stairs and into the dining room.

“Good morning hyung.” Was all Chanyeol said before Kris grabbed his face and began examining the dog. He stared into Chanyeol’s eyes, felt his forehead, opened his mouth and looked at his teeth; the man almost wanted to ask the puppy to take off his clothes so that he could examine his body.

“What’s wrong, Chanyeol? Are you sick?” Kris asked.

“No hyung, I feel fine. Why are you asking?”

“Baekhyun said you were having nightmares all last night.” Kris replied, still examining the pup. “And now that I look at you, your eyes do look really red. And you smell like sweat.” Kris felt Chanyeol’s clothes and noticed that they were damp.

“I don’t remember having a nightmare last night, though.” Chanyeol said.

“Baek said you were mumbling in your sleep a lot.” Kris said, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t remember any of that, hyung. Really.” The dog pleaded. Kris stared at the dog hybrid long and hard. He didn’t look his normal self at all. Red blood shot eyes, damp sweaty hair; he even appeared to be shivering a bit.

“I think I’m going to stay home today. Go lay down, Chanyeol.” Kris made a move to turn off the stove where the breakfast was cooking, but Chanyeol stopped him.

“What?! No! Hyung, I’m fine really. You can’t miss work!” Chanyeol whined.

“Chanyeol, you look bad. I’m seriously worried about you.” Kris said sternly; though it was clear that he was more worried than anything. "I'd rather stay home and make sure you're not sick than to go to work and find out that you were sick."

“I’m fine, hyung! I don’t know what Baekhyun is talking about! I didn’t talk or do anything last night! I was asleep! Please, hyung!” Chanyeol was practically leaning on top of Kris as he pleaded with him. He honestly, had no idea why Baekhyun would say any of those things. As far as Chanyeol remembered, he’d slept like a puppy.

Kris stood in place for what felt like 5 whole minutes. He didn’t want to leave Chanyeol.

“Okay, I’m going to go to work. But don’t do anymore chores today. I’ll do them when I get back.” The man started. “And if you start feeling sick or anything, call me. Immediately. Understand?”

“Yes, hyung.” The silver dog was smiling now and his tail had begun to wag. Kris forced himself to smile as he took a seat at the table for a quick breakfast.

 

After Kris had left the house, Chanyeol ate his own share of breakfast. It wasn’t that much, for he wasn’t feeling that hungry, which was rather unusual. Tao came down at around 9:15. He had gotten dressed in a fluffy pink hoodie that Baekhyun had purchased for him and lavender pants from Chen. His glasses were hooked onto the collar of his hoodie.

“Good morning pretty hyung.” Tao mumbled, smiling. He didn’t seem nervous, but more likely tired still.

“Morning Taozi.” Chanyeol greeted, happily wagging his tail. He almost wanted to tell Tao what he was actually saying. Baekhyun had found a way to convince the young cat that “pretty” was a special equivalent of “Mr.” to be used when speaking to dogs. Chanyeol hated that they’d basically lied to him, but he and the other beagles found Tao’s “baby talk” to be cute. He’d tell him eventually.

The two sat and ate, making minor chatter. Chanyeol was pleased with how Tao was continuing to be quite vocal with him and the others.

“Maybe later during the week, we can go out shopping together.” Chanyeol said.

“Shopping?” Tao asked with his head titled cutely.

“Shopping for clothes. Or maybe even some Christmas presents.” Chanyeol explained slowly. He had to remind himself that there were still a lot of Korean words that Tao didn’t know.

“Oh, shopping. For clothes? Okay, yes.” Tao said each phrase at a time. Slowly aquatinting himself with the new vocabulary.

“We really do need to look for a present for Kris. Christmas is coming up soon.” Chanyeol continued.

“What does Kris ge like, pretty hyung?”

“Clothes definitetly. Hm, actually he really likes buying new clothes for all of us.” The dog responded.

“Okay, we will buy clothes for Kris ge.” Tao meowed. And Chanyeol smiled. “You didn’t eat it.” Tao said after a minute.

Chanyeol frowned. “What do you mean?” Tao pointed to Chanyeol’s barely touched plate. “Oh, I’m not really that hungry.”

“Pretty dogs are always hungry.” Tao said, sounding slightly confused. In the time that he'd spent with Kris and his dogs, he'd noticed that the canines where quite the big eaters.

“Yeah, but…” Before Chanyeol could finish his sentence, Baekhyun and Chen walked into the room. They were still dressed in their pajamas.

“Morning.” Chen said, almost like a meow.

“Hey guys.” Chanyeol greeted.

“Good morning pretty hyungs.” Tao mewled happily.

“Morning Taozi.” Baekhyun said, before looking over to Chanyeol “Are you feeling better, Yeollie?”

“I feel fine. I’ve felt fine this entire time.” Chanyeol said, confusion written on his face. The other beagles stared quizzically at their friend.

“You were a little sick last night.” Baekhyun said, understating so as not to scare Tao. “You kept moaning and talking in your sleep.”

“I don’t remember any of that.” Chanyeol said. Chen and Baekhyun were dumbfounded. They didn’t think it would be possible for Chanyeol to forget the events of the previous night, especially since it had gone on for hours.

“You really don’t remember being sick?” Chen asked.

“No. Not at all.”

The older beagles looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the silver haired beagle in front of them.

“Well, go upstairs and get some rest. Just to be safe.” Beakhyun said.

“Okay. I’ll just sleep for a little bit.” Chanyeol said. He got up from his half eaten plate and made his way to the guest room.

“Good night, hyung.” Tao said. Chen chuckled.

“See you guys in a bit.” Chanyeol barked happily.

 

Chanyeol didn’t think much of the situation. He wasn’t tired considering how peacefully he’d slept the previous night, as far as he knew. Still, he didn’t want Baekhyun or Kris to worry, so he figured an hour long nap wouldn’t hurt.

On his way to the guest room, he passed Kris’s room and noticed that the bed hadn’t been made up. Tao must not have done so before coming down for breakfast. Even though Kris had told him not to do any chores, Chanyeol figured that taking 5 minutes to make up the bed wouldn’t be an issue.

Chanyeol walked in the room and inhaled deeply. He felt like he hadn’t slept in there in forever. He missed Kris’s scent at night. And even more than that, he missed his own scent mixed with Kris’s. He went over to the bed and moved the pillows to the edge. He sniffed each pillow as he moved them. They smelled partically like Kris, but there was another scent masking it. It was Tao’s scent.

 

A low growl rumbled in Chanyeol’s throat.

 

The beagle instantly shook himself, terrified at what had just happened. He took a few deep breaths, a wave of nausea washed over him once again. He decided that he should hurry up and finish so that he could lay down. Once, the sheets were in place, he grabbed the covers. They were still a bit warm. Chanyeol leaned down to catch a bit of Kris’s scent. But there was none. It only smelled like Tao. He quickly sniffed the top of the sheets as well, but only had the same outcome. He could only smell Tao.

 

And Chanyeol growled again.

“Uh, why?” Chanyeol wasn’t sure what was going on. It’s almost like he had no control of his body.

Quickly, he finished fixing the sheets and covers, leaving only the pillows to be placed in their proper spots. Chanyeol glared at the pillows. They looked different. They were the same pillows Kris had had for years and yet they looked different. Like they weren’t the same pillows Kris and Chanyeol had been sleeping on since he’d moved it.

Because Tao had been sleeping on them. Tao had been sleeping on his and Kris’s pillows. Tao had been sleeping with his Kris.

And Chanyeol lost it.

Heat swept over his body and his vision blurred. All sounds vanished. The only things Chanyeol could recognize were those tainted pillows.

He lunged at them, shaking one in his teeth. Ripping and pulling at it with his hands. His fingers no longer seemed to work so he shook the pillow harder. Slamming it against the floor. Against the wall. Eventually throwing it at Kris’s lamp. Then he grabbed the other pillow and did the same thing. He shook it vigorously and tried to use his hands, feet, anything to destroy the pillow. But he was still mad. He didn’t know why, but he was furious.

He jumped on the bed and began pulling it apart, ruining the work he’d just done. He took the top of the cover in his mouth and tried to pull it apart with all his might. Then he rolled on it. He rolled his body everywhere, trying to put his scent back on top. He wanted to get rid of the smell of cat hair. Once he finished, he did the same with the sheet, rolling his body completely on top of them.

He had no idea he was doing these things, but at the moment, nothing else seemed to matter other than marking Kris’s bed once again.

 

“Chanyeol, what the hell are you doing?!” a voice yelled. Chanyeol could barely decipher it. He couldn’t hear much outside of his growling.

He felt two arms grab him from behind and he fought back. He kicked and screamed and growled. He didn’t know what was going on, but he didn’t want to be stopped.

“Stop it Chanyeol!” The same voice yelled. Chanyeol swung his arms in all directions, trying to release himself from whatever had grabbed him.

Suddenly something appeared in front of him. He couldn’t tell what it was so he bit it, hard. He crunched his teeth down on it with all his strength.

Immediately, he felt a pair of teeth on his neck, causing him to let go of whatever he’d bitten. He’d felt this before. His mother had done this to him when he’d gotten too rough as a pup during playtime. 

Suddenly, everything seemed to revert to normal. The heat began to leave Chanyeol’s body. He was regaining the sight in his eyes. He was slowly picking up sounds. But the sounds he heard startled him. It sounded like whimpers and someone crying.

Slowly, the silver beagle opened his eyes. Chen was standing to the side of the bed, his right arm clutching his left wrist. His hand had a few punctuations with blood pouring out. The curly haired beagle had tears streaming down his face and he was making sounds that sounded like a mixture of puppy whining and kitten yowling. A tongue was quickly making its way around the wound. Baekhyun’s arms were wrapped forcefully around the taller beagle, keeping him in place. He licked at Chen’s hand at breakneck speed, trying to stop the bleeding. And outside the door he saw Tao. The black furred kitten was fully crying. His tail was clutched in his hands and he trembled at the door.

 

Chanyeol couldn’t even comprehend what he’d done.

 

He licked his lips in nervousness and tasted blood. The silver dog shut his eyes tight, too terrified to look at anyone.

“Tao, take Chen to the bathroom and clean his hand.” Came Baekhyun’s voice. Chanyeol didn’t hear a verbal response from the cat, but he heard Chen’s footstep’s walking away. The sound of a door closing told him that Chen had left.

It was silent for a few minutes before Chanyeol was tossed forward.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Baekhyun yelled.

“I…I didn’t…I mean…”

“You know what, just shut up!” Baekhyun barked. “There’s clearly something wrong with you and I’m calling a doctor.” The brown haired dog got off the bed and headed to the door.

“Hyung…”

“Just lay down and shut up.” Baekhyun growled sternly as he exited the room. Chanyeol buried his face in the sheets. He had no words he could offer in explanation, so he simply did what he was told.

Kris…Kris will…he’ll never forgive me…he’s going to get rid of me...I know he will. 

 

And the tears started flowing.

 

Downstairs, Baekhyun was in the kitchen trying to get a veterinarian on the phone. He was so focused on the sounds across the line that he almost didn’t hear the front door open. He dashed into the living room, knowing only one person who could have done so.

“Kris?” he questioned in surprise.

“Hey Baek.” Kris said, putting down his work things. “Who are you calling?”

“I…well…um, it doesn’t matter.” He said, hanging up the phone. “Why are you home from work so early?”

“Something went down at the building and they forced everyone to go home. Not that I could even focus anyway. I was too worried about Yeollie. Is he okay?” Kris asked. Baekhyun cringed, but he knew that he had to be honest with Kris this time.

“Um, hyung. I need to tell you something.”

 

Chen sat on the seat of the toilet holding out his hand as Tao cleaned his wound with alcohol. The half puppy hybrid was still trying his hardest not to cry in front of the younger cat. Tao had managed to calm himself down as he knew he had to be focused to properly clean Chen’s hand.

“It’ll be okay, pretty hyung. You’re not blood anymore.” Tao said, trying to comfort the older dog. Chen only nodded his head in response, not too concerned about Tao’s error.

Suddenly, Kris and Baekhyun burst into the bathroom, the human immediately going for Chen’s hand to examine it.

“Chen, are you okay? How do you feel?” the tall man asked. Chen still found himself unable to speak properly as he whimpered at his owner, tears clouding his eyes.

“I cleaned the biting, ge.” Tao said nervously, stuttering over his words once again.

“Baekhyun, Tao, step out into the hallway please.” Kris asked, softly. The other hybrids seemed reluctant, but they followed their owner’s order. Once out of the room, Kris lifted Chen into his arms, patting the boy’s back as if he were a baby.

“It’s okay, Dae, you’re going to be fine.” Kris cooed. Even though Chen wasn’t the oldest, he still hated for others to see him cry. That moment was actually the first time Kris had seen him crying, for any other time he’d go outside or into another room if he felt the urge coming upon him. The beagles would often go to comfort him once he’d calmed down a bit, but for Kris, this was the first time having to comfort him.

“You’re okay, Dae. You’re not bleeding anymore. Your hand is all cleaned up. It’s going to be fine.” The tall man whispered. He felt Chen nod his head against his neck. Kris continued to speak quietly to Chen and pet him gently. He'd press kisses to the young boy's face every so often. The two remained in the bathroom until Chen’s tears stopped.

 

Chanyeol was still laying on the bed crying his eyes out as well.

 

Kris…I’m sorry Kris hyung…I didn’t mean it…I just…I just wanted to be with you again...

 

Chanyeol had no idea how he’d explain this to Kris when he got home. The man was obviously going to be furious. He’d completely destroyed his bed and bitten his housemate. At this point Chanyeol didn’t know if he should wait for Kris, or just make things easier and leave. Tao could have all of his clothes and the other beagles could keep his toys. He’d just leave on his own and save Kris the stress. The man would probably be disgusted just to look at him anyway.

But no, that wouldn’t be fair. Kris deserved a proper thank you for making Chanyeol’s past year and a half the best of his life. He should give him that at least.

Chanyeol was so lost in his thoughts and tears that he didn’t even hear the door open.

“Well, can’t say my worries weren’t justified now can I.” Chanyeol sat up and was immediately met with Kris’s face.

“Hyung…”

“This wasn’t really what I expected to come home to when I suggested you rest for the day.” Kris said as he sat down on the bed. Chanyeol didn’t know whether to go to his owner or remain where he was. If he was Kris, he wouldn’t want to be around the creature and destroyed his bed and bit his other dog either.

“Come here, Chanyeol.” Kris said quietly. Chanyeol slowly crawled over to Kris and sat down on all fours.

“I’m sorry, hyung.” It was pathetic, but it really was all Chanyeol could say.

“Chanyeol, does Tao being here bother you?” Kris asked. Chanyeol’s eyes widened. He certainly wasn’t expecting that question to come from Kris’s lips.

“What? No, hyung. Never.”

“I’m serious Yeol. If you’re having problems with Tao or Chen or anyone, I need to know so I can make other arrangements for them.” Kris said, taking the hybrid’s hands in his own.

“You…you’re not getting rid of them are you?!” Chanyeol was panicking now. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to be sent away when he was the one who was causing problems. “Hyung, no please! It’s me! I should go, I’m the one who’s been stressing you out lately!”

“I don’t want to, but if them being here is making you upset then…”

“They’re not! I love all of them! Please don’t send them away!” Chanyeol was beginning to cry again. He sat up and grabbed Kris’s shoulders.

“Then why have you been acting like this?”

“I just wanted to sleep in the bed with you again, hyung!” And Chanyeol was fully crying now, burying his face in Kris’s shirt. “I just…I missed you…and I was here first…and I love you hyung…and I wanted to be with you again…but…sniff…Tao was scared…so I…I’m so sorry hyung…” Chanyeol was outright sobbing into Kris’s shirt, his words extremely muffled. Kris heard everything though. He cradled Chanyeol into his arms and began gently rocking him.

“It’s okay, Cànliè, just let it all out.” Kris whispered, curling his fingers in Chanyeol’s hair. Chanyeol cried and whined and whimpered for nearly 20 minutes before he felt that he had no more tears left to give.

“I’m so…sorry…hyung.” The silver pup moaned in exhaustion. “I don’t…deserve you. You…you deserve better…than me…”

“Don’t say that.” Kris said, pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s lips.

“I ruined everything. I just wanted everything to be perfect for you hyung.”

“Chanyeol, I love you. And I’m grateful for everything you do for me.” Kris stroked the dog’s cheeks as he spoke. “But I need you to stop.”

“Hyung?”

“I don’t need you to try to take control of everything. I’m the owner in this house. It’s my job to take care of all of you and make sure you’re all happy.”

“But, I just want…”

“I know you want me and the others to be happy, but look what you’re doing to yourself. You’re stressing yourself out trying to make sure everything is perfect and making yourself sick. Last night you were so sick that you were up all night, then exhausted yourself to the point that you didn’t even remember. And today you had a nervous breakdown and destroyed my bed. You’ve been bottling up your emotions for too long just in an effort to make me happy. You need to relax, Chanyeol.” Kris said, sitting the dog on his lap properly.

“I…I just didn’t think…I’d miss you so much, hyung.”

“I know you wanted Tao to be comfortable so I’d be happy, but you should have also thought about yourself being comfortable as well.” Kris said. “We could have worked something out where we could have all stayed together in the room and keep everyone happy as well.”

“But…what if Tao didn’t want to? What if he…wouldn’t have wanted to stay? And it would have been because of me.”

“Chanyeol, every decision I make in this house, I make with you in mind. I don’t do anything if I think it’ll make you uncomfortable. You are my priority, and your comfort comes before anyone else. Even a cat hybrid that I’ve wanted forever.”

“Really, hyung…” The silver beagle was tearing up again.

“Yes. I love you, Chanyeol. More than anyone on this planet.”

“I love you, too, Kris.” The puppy said tearfully, embracing his owner once again.

 

Downstairs Tao and Baekhyun were still tending to Chen. The curly puppy had stopped crying, but still seemed a bit shaken. All three hybrids were laying down on the sofa. Tao was squished behind Chen, while Baekhyun lay on top of him. They were gently grooming the dog in an effort to calm him down. Tao was licking his fluffy hair, while Baekhyun cleaned his neck and his cheeks. Normally the half canine didn’t care much for the activity, but he was still a bit too out of it to care at the moment.

The ritual was common among hybrids when they were still young and living with their littermates. It was also done by hybrids that had been purchased by humans that had lived together for a while. The beagles did it only on occasion, as it was more popular with cat and rodent hybrids. It wasn’t only a grooming method. Hybrids would also do it if their friends were stressed. Chanyeol had done it to D.O.’s pup Kai one day when the dog stayed over for the night and was missing his owner. Some hybrids would even do it to their owners if they didn’t mind. Luhan gave Xiumin so many tongue baths that the short man constantly had an aroma of deer soaked into his flesh.

The hysteria seemed to bring out the brotherly instincts within the hybrids and caused them to comfort each other, even Tao who’d never taken part in a grooming session with the dogs.

Kris and Chanyeol eventually made their way downstairs for Chanyeol to apologize to the others for his actions. He quickly paused and held Kris back when he saw what was happening on the couch. He was surprised and thrilled to see how the others were interating with Tao. He wanted to take part in the bonding as well, but wasn’t sure if the others would want him. Still, he had to try. To beg for their forgiveness. Kris knew grooming was very important to hybrids and wanted Chanyeol to make amends with the others. He pushed his pup forward and nodded to him.

 

You know what you need to do.

 

As if Chanyeol could read his owner’s mind, the tall hybrid got down on all fours and slowly padded his way to the sofa. He was nervous. The others could easily reject him, and why wouldn’t they? He’d caused them so much trouble in just two days, he’d perfectly understand them not wanting him to be part of their moment. Even if they did ignore him, at the very least, Tao had bonded with the other two. That only was enough to make Chanyeol happy.

Slowly, he approached the side of the sofa. Baekhyun saw him first, since he was on top of Chen. Tao noticed him soon after. Chanyeol sat on all fours in front of the sofa and lowered his head in apology. He didn’t say anything. He lowered his ears to show that he meant no harm and just waited. His eyes quickly darted from the hybrids to the floor. A gesture asking if he could join them.

The other hybrids looked at him quietly almost as if they were judging him. Chanyeol wasn’t sure if they were actually contemplating him joining them, or just toying with him as a punishment. He certainly deserved any repercussions they could offer.

To Chanyeol’s surprise, it was Tao that moved first. He slowly lifted himself up and over Chen so that he hovered above Chanyeol. He sniffed the silver dog a few times before gently licking the top of his nose. Chanyeol looked up in shock as Tao smiled at him warmly. He licked the tall dog’s cheeks a few times before taking his spot back behind Chen. Chen himself reached his injured hand towards Chanyeol and gently stroked his cheeks. And Baekhyun leaned over and licked Chanyeol’s still slightly teary eye.

Still in silence and on the verge of crying again, Chanyeol licked all three of them, starting with Chen’s injured hand before moving on to Tao’s pointed ears. He finished with Baekhyun’s arm, before sinking back to his spot on the ground. But Chen reached for him again and pulled him back towards the group. The kitten-like smile was present on the boy’s lips. Chanyeol simply rested his head on the edge of the couch and let his tears flow again. The others moved in to comfort him in their hybrid fashion.

He’d definitely apologize to all of them verbally later. But for now, he just wanted to have this moment last as long as possible.

Kris had seen the whole thing from the mirror on the other side of the wall and was happy to see his hybrids all happily engulfed in each other’s presence. Slowly, he made his way back upstairs, wanting to give the boys the privacy they deserved. As he made it to his room, his phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

“Wu? What the hell?! Where are you?!” a furious voice yelled.

“I’m at home, sir.”

“At home?! Are you kidding me?! Well you better have a damn good reason for getting up walking out of my business on your shift!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but one of my dog hybrids was sick this morning and I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I had to come back and check on him.” The man explained.

“Are you serious, Wu?! You left my business to go home and play with your dog?!”

“He was sick, sir. I apologize for leaving without telling you, but I needed to make sure he was okay.” Kris said calmly. 

“Do you know how much progress you’ve halted because of this?! This is a waste of my time having to clean up your mess, Wu. And I hope you know you won’t be receiving a paycheck for today or the rest of the week.”

“That’s fine with me, sir.” Kris smiled as he thought about the happy hybrids in his living room just beneath him. “What I have now is worth more than any money you could pay me.” And with that, he hung up the phone.

He looked at the dismantled room in front of him. Fortunately he had extra pillows and covers in his closet. With how things were going downstairs, he figured he could get the room cleaned up far before the hybrids were ready for lunch. He chuckled as he thought about going to sleep later that night.

“It’ll be crowded with 5 of us in here, but we’ll make do.” He smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, that was actually hard for me to write. I hated having to write conflict between such a sweet group, but I didn't want everything to be too perfect so...I hope it was good at least. Fortunately, that's pretty much it for angst between these guys. So next chapter it'll be back to fluff as usual:3
> 
> Also, sorry if the words Tao was struggling with/confusing aren't words that actually sound similar in Korean. I thought it would be far too complex and confusing to look up similar sounding words in Korean and then have to put in translations for everything and I already had limited time with the schedule I wanted so...yeah sorry if that bothers anyone.
> 
> Anyway, thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed :) I hope to have the next chapter up soon.


	4. Shopping Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! I'd like to thank all those who've been reading and enjoying this story:) It really means a lot to me. Without further ado, here's Chapter 4.

“Have a good day at work, Kris.” Chanyeol barked cheerily as he wrapped his arms around his owner through the car window.

“I will, Yeol. Have fun today.” Kris said, kissing the pup on the lips. “Maybe you and the others can go play in the park.”

“That would be nice.” The silver beagle said, wagging his tail. “I’ll see what they say.”

“Good. Call if you need anything. Love you.” Kris said, kissing the dog’s hand.

“Love you too, hyung.” Chanyeol backed up to the door for Kris to pull out and watched the man as he pulled away. After he was out of eyesight, Chanyeol giggled and bounced back into the house. He already had plans for the day.

“Kris is gone guys. Hurry up, let’s get out of here.” Chanyeol barked once he got inside. On the sofa in front of him lay a cluster of hybrids, none of which looked even close to moving. “C’mon guys.” Chanyeol whined.

Chen was splayed on the sofa itself, with Tao lying on top of him. The cat hybrid’s upper body was hanging awkwardly off the edge of the couch so as not to smother Chen. Baekhyun was at the top of the pile, arms wrapped around Tao’s lower back.

“Five more minutes, hyung.” Tao whined, clearly not wanting to get up yet.

“Guys, we have to go to the mall to get Kris’s Christmas gift.” The silver dog said with his hands on his hips, clearly annoyed with how his fellow hybrids were ignoring him.

“We have all day for that, Yeol.” Baekhyun whined.

“Sleep now, shop later.” Chen murmured.

“Sleepy, hyung.” Tao meowed, his eyes barely opened. Though the cat hybrid’s Korean had greatly improved, Tao still didn’t speak much early in the morning and he tended to use very simple words. He claimed that his brain needed to wake up as well before he could speak properly.

“We don’t even have a gift idea yet. We’ll probably be spending a majority of time just picking out what to buy him.” Chanyeol said. All of the hybrids moaned. They just wanted a few more minutes of sleep in silence. Chanyeol sighed. “I’m going to go upstairs and get some money. Please be ready by the time I come back down.”

“Yeah yeah, fine.” Baekhyun grumbled. He and the others knew that they needed to get a gift for Kris. Their lack of enthusiasm to get it was mainly based on what Chanyeol had just said; they had no clue as to what they were going to get.

Chanyeol made his way upstairs chuckling to himself. Normally he’d be more than happy to have a cuddle session with the four of them together. After the grooming ritual which followed the bite incident a couple of weeks prior, the hybrids had been closer than ever. Tao still thought that he was partially to blame for what happened. He hadn’t been trying his best to connect with the beagles and because of his reluctance; Chanyeol became upset and bit Chen. The silver beagle still insisted that he was at fault though. He was being selfish and immature and because of it he’d hurt his dear friend. The silver dog of course apologized to the curly haired boy every day after the incident, and would constantly lick his hand as both an apology and an attempt to heal his injuries. Chen had told him several times that he understood the situation and accepted Chanyeol’s apology, but the taller pup wanted to show it as much as possible.

Nevertheless, Tao (and apparently Kris) decided that evening that they would all sleep in Kris’s bed together from then on. The ebony cat was ready to make progress so they could all be happy. And they’ve been attached to each other since then.

It was almost hard for the beagles to think that Tao was the same shy kitten who moved in with them nearly a month ago. A cat who initially had struggles merely looking at the dogs would now be the one to initiate any and all skinship with them. If the beagles didn’t know any better, they’d say Tao was touchier than them. Whether the cat was lying on top of them on the couch or pressing himself against them in bed, the feline always found a way to force himself onto his housemates. It was actually quite funny to the others, especially considering Tao’s height.

This, however, was more important. It would be the first time that the hybrids went out on their own and purchased a gift for their owner. They’d previously given him random presents such as pretty rocks they found outside, or, to Kris’s shock, some backyard critters (which they promptly had to release back into the outdoors). For Christmas, Chanyeol and the others wanted it to be special. They wanted to give Kris a real gift from a store like he’d get from another human. And Chanyeol was so excited that he couldn’t wait any longer. The silver beagle gathered everything they’d need for going out; their cell phones, a decent sum of money, large coats and beanies due to the weather, and Chen’s pink handbag, that totally wasn’t a purse, which he never left home without. The tall dog made his way back to the bottom floor and was happy to see the other hybrids up and ready to go.

“Everyone ready?” he asked.

“Yes, hyung.” Tao meowed.

“Ready as ever.” Chen added, reaching for his handbag. And with that, the hybrids headed to the mall in search of Kris’s gift.

 

The wait at the bus stop was long, and would normally be boring for most individuals. The beagles however always had a way of making time fly. A simple question would turn into a massive conversation and before the beagles knew it, 2 hours would have gone by. And fortunately for the dogs, their conversations became even more enjoyable with Tao in the mix. Kris was right about him; once he started talking, he didn’t stop. He was almost comparable to Baekhyun in his chattiness and would add to the beagle banter tenfold. Also to the beagle’s delight, Tao was very friendly with strangers. Though it was only with humans as opposed to hybrids, which the beagles knew from their first interactions with him. While most cat hybrids kept their distance from humans or even hybrids they didn’t know, Tao was very much a people person and would be just as happy to converse with a new face as he would his canine friends.

Unfortunately, most humans did not like hybrids and would rudely ignore Tao. Others would straight up scold him for speaking to them without being told to, and the beagle line would always be at his defense to defend and comfort him. Still, because of events like these, Tao had become a bit reluctant to speak to non-familiar humans.

“Oh, the bus is here!” Tao said, jumping up and down.

“Finally. That took forever.” Chen said, though he wasn’t even aware how long they’d been waiting.

The doors to the bus opened as the hybrids were greeted by a familiar owlish face.

“Good morning, Kyungsoo hyung.” Tao meowed, smile bright on his face.

“Hey, D.O.” Baekhyun said, giving the man a high five.

“What up D.O?” Chen barked, lightly slapping the man’s back.

“Hi Soo.” Chanyeol added cheerily.

“Morning everyone. Where to today?” the short man asked.

“We’re going to the mall to get a present for Kris ge.” Tao said happily.

“How sweet. Well, hope you get something nice for him. I know I sure as heck wouldn’t know what to get your picky owner.” D.O. joked. The hybrids laughed and went to the back to look for open seats.

Hybrid buses were often much smaller than buses that carried humans. Most of the public saw no reason to actually provide decent services for hybrids, insisting that animals should have no problems riding in less than perfect conditions. As such, the buses that shuttled hybrids were rarely clean, tended to have crappy torn seats, and had no sort of seatbelts despite the laws saying they were required. It also didn’t help that the human population didn’t like having to put their tax money towards something they didn’t like, thus the number of hybrid buses that ran was often far and few between. Only when the bus drivers gave a damn were hybrids ever given decent treatment.

D.O. was one of the exceptions. Being a hybrid owner himself, the man felt for their struggles and hated the way the public treated them. As such, he became a hybrid bus driver to make sure that he could help as many hybrids in need as he could and get them were they needed to go, safely and properly.

The bus was pretty loaded. It was full of not only hybrids, but also humans, most likely their owners, meaning it was hard to find space for 3 beagles and a kitty. Luckily, they did manage to find space at the very back of the bus. There wasn’t much room for the four of them to be super comfortable, but with all the squished cuddling they did at home, this was normal for them. Baekhyun sat next to the window, as the brunet loved pointing out the sites they passed by. Next to him was Tao, who had Chen on his lap. Chanyeol was on the very edge of the seat.

Immediately, Tao pulled out his phone and began taking selcas of their little group, despite the fact that they had done nothing of particular interest. The beagles weren’t sure why Tao was so obsessed with his phone. Kris had bought each hybrid a cell phone to be used for emergencies and that’s purely what the dogs used them for. Needless to say, their phones rarely left their bedside nightstand. Tao on the other hand, he used his phone constantly. From the time he woke up to the time they all went to sleep, the young kitten would probably have used his phone about 60 times. Kris and the dogs weren’t even sure what he was doing most of the time. Usually he just used it to take pictures of himself or funny things the dogs did or use it to text Sehun or Kai, but other times it seemed like he just watched videos all day. None of the beagles could understand why Tao took so much interest in the device. Chanyeol speculated that it was a cat thing at first. After all, phones were a sophisticated type of device. But their half kitty Chen wasn’t nearly as entertained by it. Despite their lack of enthusiasm, the puppies always smiled and posed for Tao’s pictures.

“Hee hee. That was a cute one.” Tao giggled as he posted the picture on Kris’s Instagram. “Even ugly dog hyung.” Baekhyun chuckled as he snuggled closer to the cat. The others had eventually told Tao that Baekhyun had been less than truthful about the “pretty dogs” deal. He was confused at first, but then decided that he’d call the brunet dog by the nickname “ugly dog”, from then on as payback. His hyung figured he deserved it and tended to pay it no mind.

“Hey look, it’s Lu-hyung and Xiu-hyung!” Chen barked as he saw two men, one with small antlers, stepping onto the bus.

“Hey, guys!” the antlered man said, waving. The two men traveled to the back of the bus to join their friends.

“Hello, Luhan ge. Hi, Xiumin hyung.” Tao meowed.

“Hey dearies.” Baekhyun said with a laugh.

“Where are you guys headed?” Chanyeol asked as he embraced the human male. Tao reached his arms out and made grabby hands, a whine leaving his throat. When Kris first introduced the cat to the two other men, he was sure he’d become close to Luhan since they were both Chinese hybrids. While Tao did love Luhan, he had become a bit closer to Xiumin. In addition to the cat’s claims that the short Korean man just had a very calming aura, Xiumin was also very caring towards Tao. He’d allow the cat to use him as a pillow, even if he was working, despite the large size difference between the two; something Luhan would never do. Additionally he’d prepare nice cat friendly snacks for the boy whenever he visited and was known to have helped him a lot when he was still learning Korean.

“Lulu and I are headed to a friend’s house for a Christmas party.” The man answered as he wrapped his arms around the cat and the curly beagle on his lap.

“A party? This early?” Chen asked.

“Yeah, this guy always celebrates Christmas with his family in Busan, so he has his Christmas parties early. Problem is that he lives on the other side of town so it takes us forever to get to his house.” Xiumin explained.

“Ooooh.” Tao meowed, eyes dreary as he hugged Chen tighter.

“You guys are still coming to our party, right?” Chanyeol asked, his tail beating against the seat.

“Of course. I’d never miss one of Kris’s parties. Especially your first one with Tao.” Xiumin said, gummy smile shining. Baekhyun wrapped his arms around Tao and smiled, causing the feline to blush. He buried his face in Chen’s curly hair.

“What are you guys up to?” Luhan asked. “You guys rarely go out without Kris. You must be doing something special.”

“We’re going to get him a Christmas present.” Baekhyun barked.

“Really? What are you getting him?” Xiumin asked.

“That’s what we don’t know.” Chanyeol laughed.

“Eh, I’m not surprised. Kris isn’t an easy person to buy a present for.” Xiumin said.

“Yeah, but I feel like we should have an idea at least. I mean, we’re the ones with him all day every day.” Chanyeol said, his smile shrinking. Luhan rested his head on Xiumin’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll find a great gift.” The deer said.

“And no matter what you get him, he’ll love it regardless.” The Korean man said, brushing his fingers through his hybrid’s pink hair.

At that moment, the bus pulled up at the side of the mall.

“Alright beagles, here we are.” D.O. called.

“Well, let’s get to going boys. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.” Chanyeol said. He gave Xiumin and Luhan a quick lick goodbye before exiting the bus.

“Bye hyungs.” Chen called.

“Bye, pretty deer ge and Xiumin hyung.” Tao said. Baekhyun merely barked as a farewell.

“See you later.” Xiumin called, waving.

“Good luck with your gift search.” Luhan added. With the others gone, the deer wasted no time pressing kisses to his owner’s face, much to the shorter male’s embarrassment.

“Thanks so much, D.O.” Chanyeol said as they got to the front of the bus.

“Yeah, thanks for the ride Soo.” Baekhyun added.

“You’ll be at our party right?” Tao asked with large eyes.

“Definitely, I just need to get a new outfit for Kai first. That kid shreds up everything I buy him.” D.O. said with a roll of his eyes. “Eh, puppies. What can you do? Anyway, see ya!”

“You too!” Chen yelled. After watching the bus completely pull off, the quartet made their way inside.

 

As one would expect during the Christmas season, the mall was filled with people. Humans were everywhere, dashing from to store to store, looking for gifts for friends and family. It also didn’t help that most humans were more irritable than usual, mainly due to the rush of the holidays and general stress. Some were moving so fast and reckless that they’d push their way through other individuals without so much as an “excuse me”. And of course, no one had any patience for hybrids at this time. Baekhyun instantly pulled Tao closer to him. The kitten had a tendency to wander and the last thing the beagles wanted was to lose him in this huge ocean of ruder-than-usual people.

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Baekhyun asked, gripping the kitten’s wrist. Tao had already locked his eyes on a food stand and looked ready to dart.

“We need to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as we can. So I say we split into two groups.” Chanyeol explained.

“Alright, you and I can go to the stores on the ground floor, and Baekkie and Tao can handle upstairs.” Chen said to Chanyeol.

“Waaaeeee? Aigoooooo, why do I have to go with the ugly beef hyung?” Tao pouted. Chanyeol and Chen laughed at Tao’s excessive aegyo and nicknames for the eldest dog.

“What?! Like you’re so fun to shop with?” Baekhyun whined with his hands on his hips. The other beagles rolled their eyes.

“OMG, just go already. We don’t have any time to waste.” Chen said, pushing the boys to a nearby escalator.

“Awwww, this is very…not fun.” Tao giggled.

“Ya, stop whining or I won’t buy you anything.”

“You never buy me nice things anyway.” The younger said, giving the brown haired dog a light slap on the shoulder.

“You guys owe me big time for this!” Baekhyun barked as he and the cat made it to the escalator. The other beagles laughed as they walked off.

“Geez, why do they argue so much?” Chen asked.

“Who knows? It’s not like the world can’t see how much they adore each other.” Chanyeol laughed, placing his hands in his pockets.

It was true, to everyone’s surprise; Tao had grown quite close to Baekhyun. Despite the cat being a bit warry of the dog at first, they’d somehow become nearly inseparable. Chen speculated that the boys’ shared love of Korean dramas that aided in their friendship. The duo would watch their shows all throughout the day, and it was no longer a rare sight to see the two of them snuggled on top of each other in the morning after binging on dramas all into the night. The two were also the ones who were most into the cell phone. Though it wasn’t a question that Tao used the device more, Baekhyun had also developed a love for taking pictures of himself and putting them on the internet, along with taking part in other activities. He and Tao habitually would watch videos of cat hybrids on a special video website. Chanyeol and Chen didn’t really see the fun in it, but they were glad that the other pets had a lot of things to bond over.

As they arrived in the first clothing store, the dogs were met with a huge bundle of humans. All of them were running from rack to rack, aisle to aisle in search of gifts.

“Ugh, so many people.” Chen mumbled into his jacket sleeves. And Chanyeol knew that he wasn’t just annoyed by the store being crowed. Even after being with Kris for so long, Chen still didn’t care much for humans. He adored Kris and his friends of course, but due his history, he wasn’t too fond of anyone else. He particularly wasn’t happy about being surrounded by holiday obsessed, easily angered, hybrid hating humans.

“Just stick close to me, hyung.” Chanyeol said. “No one should bother us if we’re together.”

It was tragic, but unfortunately, hybrids did face a lot of harassment. They were often picked on in public, usually for the most trivial of things. Chanyeol will never forget the time someone yelled at and almost hit Baekhyun for just for making eye contact with her for a split second. Luckily Kris was with them that day and told the woman to kindly piss off. It was the reason why most hybrids rarely left home without their owners unless they were going to a familiar area with friends. If they had “backup”, as many tended to say, more often than not, hybrids were safe going out. But once a human saw a hybrid alone, it was basically a free-for-all festival for humans to publically embarrass and even assault them.

“Let’s just try to do this quickly so we can get back home.” Chen said, eagerly looking through the racks.

To the duo’s dismay, they failed to make much progress. The pups had been in the one store for an hour and found nothing that they thought Kris would like. They were starting to feel agitated; Chen especially since it meant that he had to stay in the store longer.

“Ugh…this is taking forever, man.” The half dog whined.

“I know, but I just don’t see anything he’d like, hyung.” Chanyeol said.

“Can’t we go to a different store? We’ve been here for a whole hour and only looked through this one store.”

“Yeah, I guess we won’t be finding anything we like here.” The dogs thus ended their search and headed to the exit. As they were approaching the door, Chen saw a very nice hat.

“Oooh, wait. Let me look at that first.” The beagle yipped as he dashed to the hat.

“Aigooo, you were the one who wanted to leave.” Chanyeol whined, stopping for his friend regardless.

“Just let me see.” Chen said, placing the hat on top of his head. “It looks nice, right?” the boy asked, striking a pose.

“Heh, I guess. But it’s probably super expensive.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll just ask Kris hyung to buy one for me.”

“Hey you! Take that off!” A woman’s voice echoed through the area. Chen and Chanyeol turned in shock to see a woman, clearly an employee, stomping towards them. Instinctively, Chanyeol placed his body between his friend and the woman.

“He was just trying it on, ma’am.” Chanyeol explained calmly.

“If you mongrels aren’t buying it, then don’t touch it! We don’t need you filthy hybrids dirtying our products and then putting them back. No one wants your disease on them!” The woman hollered. And suddenly all eyes were on the two beagles. Chanyeol could smell that Chen was incredibly nervous as he slowly put the hat back in its spot. He decided to comply just so they could leave in peace.

“I understand. We’re sorry, ma’am. We’re leaving now.” The tall man said, slowly backing away and still acting as a barricade. The woman snatched the hat with her gloved hand.

“Ugh, you filthy beasts. Now we have to burn this! That’s 10,000 won out the window!” The woman spat. “This is why so many people get rid of you during this time of year. You’re nothing but pests who ruin the Christmas season.”

Chanyeol could nearly feel Chen’s heart crack. He didn’t even need to look at the boy to know he was soon to be on the verge of tears. The dogs exited the store and Chanyeol picked up his pace so he could try to find a secluded area for Chen to cry in peace, if possible. Luckily most of the humans were in stores, so the main mall wasn’t as packed. Chanyeol pulled Chen into a small corner next to a video game store.

The boy had started shaking as soon as the woman made her comment. His eyes were now pooled with tears and he immediately covered his face before Chanyeol could look at him for too long. The pup trembled as he fought himself to not outwardly sob. He was whimpering very loudly and he struggled to keep his voice down. Chanyeol wrapped his arms around his friend, rubbing his back slowly. 

“It’s okay, hyung. Don’t worry about her. She’s just…a jerk.” Chanyeol said, proud of himself for not swearing. “She doesn’t deserve to be around a dog as good as you.” Chen’s body still shook hard in the younger dog’s embrace.

“I want…to go home. I don’t…want…to be…here. I want... leave. Please. Let me go.” Chen cried, his words divided by his whimpering. Chanyeol didn’t know what to say. They definitely couldn’t leave without Kris’s gift and there was no way Chen could just leave by himself. He’d face even more harassment and would be without anyone to protect him until he got home.

“Shhh, just calm down. It’s okay.” The silver dog said. He knew that Chen was only speaking from anger and embarrassment. He knew that deep down, Chen wanted to stay to get Kris’s gift. He was just sick and tired of being harassed and insulted by humans. “Do you want me to call Kris?” Chanyeol wasn’t sure what they’d tell their owner. They’d have to be incredibly vague about the situation since they were buying his gift in secret, but it was the only thing Chanyeol could think of to calm the elder down. Kris was pretty good in comforting the dog when he got upset about being out in public and his mere words were enough to put Chen in a better mood most of the time.

“No…” Was all Chen said as he sniffled even more. Chanyeol simply kept rubbing his hyung’s back and hair as he waited for the boy to finish crying. They’d try another store and hopefully find a gift quickly. Chanyeol didn’t want any of them to face any more problems.

 

Tao and Baekhyun meanwhile were already on their third store. They tended to go by the motto “if you don’t see something you like the first time, you still won’t find anything the second time”. And thus, the boys didn’t spend much time in the other stores. They might have made more progress, however, if they weren’t constantly getting distracted by looking for things for themselves.

“Aw crap, where did he go now?” Baekhyun said nervously. Tao had wondered off on his own several times already as his attention got pulled to clothes he wanted for himself. And Baekhyun wouldn’t really have minded if the kid would actually tell him where he was going.

“Tao, Zitao.” The dog called worriedly. He’d checked all of the men’s clothes in the nearby vicinity and hadn’t seen the cat anywhere. Until he remembered. “Aw crap!” And the brunet made a dash to a nearby section.

Just as Baekhyun expected, Tao was looking through clothes in women’s section. Of all the things that confused the dogs the most about Tao, it was the boy’s taste in clothes. For some reason, the cat tended to prefer more feminine outfits, sometimes seeking out clothing specially made for females. It had become common for the cat boy and his owner to go out shopping for clothes for the former, only for the duo to return with blouses and ladies jeans. The others were just thankful that he only wore said clothes at home or around Kris’s close friends.

“Aye, Tao. Will you get over here?” Baekhyun playfully scolded, slapping the younger’s arm lightly.

“Hyung, look! Isn’t this pretty?” the kitty exclaimed, holding up a woman’s shirt.

“Aish, put that back and get out of here.” Baekhyun said, putting the shirt back. He started pulling the boy back to the men’s section “Geez, if you’re going to look through clothes, at least stay by the men’s clothes so we can find something Kris could wear.”

“Ugh…fine. I’ll go over there.” Tao said, pointing to a nearby area with shirts. But his tail was grabbed by Baekhyun.

“Oh no. You’ve wandered off too many times today. Stay here with me until I find something.” The beagle said sternly. Tao began to pout, but it soon morphed into a small smile.

“Hmp. Meanie.” Tao whispered, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun and resting his chin on the dog’s head. “You…ugly dog hyung has such bad clothing taste. You’ll never find a good outfit.” The cat giggled at himself. “You only find ugly stuffs.”

Baekhyun had to force himself not to outwardly chuckle at Tao’s incessant mumbling. The cat was joking of course and Baekhyun knew that. The way Tao had wrapped his large fluffy tail around Baekhyun’s leg, something he only did to close friends when was in a good mood, proved that. But even without the action, Baekhyun knew that Tao would never seriously insult him. The two were too close for that.

Even Baekhyun wasn’t sure how he and Tao had become such good friends. For whatever reason, the hybrids were drawn to each other, and rarely had a moment in the day when they were apart. It came as a surprise to the other members of the household as Baekhyun was not one to make it known when he cared so much for someone. Deep down, he certainly loved his housemates and all of their friends, but the dog tended to put on such a tough persona, that he rarely acted like he liked anyone. Thus he tended to purposely annoy their friends and constantly argue with them so he didn’t seem like such a softie, though he really was.

With Tao, the cat just had some sort of effect on Baekyhun that awakened his normally non-existent “hyung mode”. It may have been because Tao was a foreigner or perhaps because of the cat’s sweet demeanor that made everyone want to baby him; but whatever the reason, Tao had Baekhyun wrapped around his finger, even if he didn’t realize it. Whenever Tao asked Baekhyun for something, he’d get it. If both of them were lying on the couch and Tao wanted a snack, but didn’t feel like moving, the beagle would get it for him. If Tao just approached him on the bed and started cuddling him, he’d allow the cat to do whatever he wanted with no complaint. In fact, he’d often pet the kitten to sleep. For these reasons, Baekhyun frequently argued with the cat and pestered him to make it seem like they weren’t as chummy. But everyone knew that the dog had a special spot in his heart for the tall cat boy.

With a smile on his face, Baekhyun was completely lost in his thoughts. He hadn’t even realized that Tao had started nuzzle his neck and that he had leaned into the cat’s touch. Normally the beagle wouldn’t be so open about public displays of affection. While all of them adored the activity within the non-judgmental walls of Kris’s home, they often avoided it in public. But Tao had no issues being as intimate outside as he was indoors. He purred quietly and gently licked his hyung’s cheek.

“How about you bastards keep that crap in your doghouse where it belongs?” An elderly male’s voice asked rudely. Baekhyun saw an ahjussi standing with an older man across from them. Tao immediately let his arms fall off of Baekhyun as he backed away from him.

“Do you Neanderthals have no shame? There are children and seniors in here. Go mate each other outside, don’t stand in the store!” the younger man said angrily. “My father shouldn’t have to feel like he’s in a barn when he’s out shopping.”

Baekhyun growled, but didn’t say anything. He knew if he said something, they’d get put out and he didn’t want that. He couldn’t do that to Chanyeol. So he took Tao by the hand and moved to a different area. Once they’d gotten a distance away from the ugly duo, Baekhyun turned around and cupped Tao’s teary face.

“Just ignore them Tao. There’s no rule saying we can’t do that. If humans can be all touchy and cuddly in public, then so can we.” Baekhyun whispered angrily. Tao sniffled, but nodded his head anyway. He wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands, whimpering quietly. Baekhyun patted the younger’s back as he scanned the area to make sure they weren’t be watched. He could take being yelled at by rude humans, but Tao didn’t deserve that. He was the most sensitive of Kris’s household and any mean comment from a hybrid-anti could make him burst into tears. The cat boy had no issues about openly crying, though. He was fine with being honest about his sensitivity and would be quick to go to a friend for comfort if he felt upset, unlike the others who preferred to be alone. And thus, the ebony kitten cried his eyes out in store, Baekhyun patiently giving him the time he needed.

“Hyung…sniff…” Tao started. The brown haired beagle took the younger boy’s hands in his own.

“Do you want to go to another store, Tao-ah?”

“No…I’m fine. Let’s stay here.” The cat answered quietly.

“Are you sure, Taozi?”

“Yes.” He said, wiping his eyes. He pointed to a rack of clothes in front of them. “Kris ge might like these.” Baekhyun knew that the cat hybrid was still upset, but wouldn’t push the issue. They looked through a few more racks before they started to get bored. Their mood was also ruined due to the incident.

“Did you find anything?” Baekhyun asked.

“No, hyung.” Tao replied glumly.

“I don’t think we’re doing to find anything.”

“Can we go find Chanyeol hyung?” Tao mewed quietly.

“You want to go back to the guys? Okay.” Baekhyun replied. He grabbed Tao’s hand and led him to the door. It was mainly to keep track of him, but also to show that they didn’t need to be ashamed of being affectionate in public.

“Ugh…will you just hurry up already hyung?” A bored voice meowed.

“Wait, hyung.” Tao said, ears pricked up. “Did that sound like…”

“Aigoooo, I’m looking Hunnie.” Another voice whined.

“Yeah.” Baekhyun said. The two pushed their way past a few large clothing racks to find a familiar couple in a typical position.

“Lay, Sehun!” Baekhyun barked, his tail wagging happily.

“Ni Hao Yixing ge. Hi Sehun.” Tao said happily. His mood had already turned around, much to Baekhyun’s delight.

“What’s up guys?” The cat mumbled, sounding annoyed as ever.

“Lay? Laaayyy?” Baekhyun sang, tapping the bunny on the shoulder.

“Hmmm. Oh Baekhyun, Taozi, hi.” The rabbit said cheerfully. His dimple brightened up his whole face, a trait Suho and the others loved.

“What are you two doing here?” Tao asked.

“And why are you doing it, like that?” Baekhyun added with a giggle. Sehun groaned. He was currently wrapped up in his own tail, being held in place by the rabbit hybrid, who additionally wrapped one of his arms around the cat. With his other arm, he looked through the racks of clothes. Sehun, irritated beyond belief, made himself go limp, causing his body to hang out of Lay’s arm like a sack of potatoes. It was a habit often done by Ragdoll cats, Sehun’s breed, when they were relaxed. The rainbow haired cat instead did it when his bunny housemate wanted to cuddle and the cat didn’t feel like being bothered. Unfortunately, becoming limp only made it easier for Lay to lug him around.

“Oh, we’re looking for a new outfit for Suho hyung.” Lay said, his attention turning back to the clothes.

“Are you still coming to the party?” Tao mewled happily.

“That’s what the outfit is for.” Sehun responded. “But this hyung is taking all day. We’ve been looking in this one spot for like 45 minutes already.”

“I just want to make sure I didn’t miss something Junnie might like.” The rabbit countered.

“What are you two doing?” Sehun asked, ignoring his housemate.

“Failing to find a present for Kris.” Baekhyun said, half smiling.

“Bummer.”

“Bummer?” Tao questioned, looking at Baekhyun.

“It means ‘this sucks’.” The beagle summed up. Tao nodded.

“Well, I hope you’ll have better luck than us.” Sehun said intentionally loud for Lay to hear.

“Thanks. See you at the party.” Baekhyun said.

“Oh, Lay. Will you be making any food for the party?” Tao asked, eyes hopeful. He and the beagles loved Lay’s cooking and was always pleased to visit Suho’s house whenever Lay was making dinner.

“Food? Food. Food…….” And like that, the hybrid had spaced out. It was something the rabbit did frequently, but no one, not even Suho could find a reason why. He had done a load of research to try to find out if it was a rabbit hybrid thing, but eventually concluded that it was just something personality based. At first Suho’s friends were a bit weirded out when they all experienced it for the first time. Now they all find it to be the cutest aspect of the hybrid and a great opportunity to start cuddling him out of nowhere. It did tend to break him out of his trance.

“Waeeee, there he goes again! This is why we’ve been here for so long.” Sehun moaned.

“Heh heh, see you around Sehunnie.” Baekhyun waved, leading Tao out of the store.

“Later…”

 

Unbeknownst to Baekhyun and Tao, the other pups too had decided to meet up together after failing to find a good present after their second round of searching. There were too many people, too much commotion, and Chanyeol knew that Chen was becoming more and more irritated. Eventually, Chanyeol texted the others and asked to meet up by the front door so they could catch D.O.’s bus back home. Chen had calmed down and was quietly mewling as Chanyeol walked him to the front of the store. The half beagle, rarely let out any cat sounds of his own will. It was only very recently that the others had heard him do it. Baekhyun was actually shocked when he’d first heard something come from Chen that wasn’t a bark, as he was sure the younger boy wasn’t able to produce such sounds.

When the two dogs arrived at the front entrance, their friends were already there waiting for them. Chanyeol instantly noticed Tao’s somber demeanor, and based on the look on Baekhyun’s face, the other hybrid could tell than Chen was also feeling down.

“Guess you guys didn’t have much of a good time either?” Baekhyun asked.

“Not so much.” Chanyeol whispered sadly. Everyone sighed.

“And we still don’t have a present for Kris ge.” Tao said, eyes on the ground. The black kitten began tearing up again and Chanyeol moved to pat his hair in comfort. Everyone felt miserable. Not only had they been ridiculed and harassed for no reason other than hatred of their kind, but they also failed to get a present for their dear owner. All of the hybrids were about to give up before Chen spoke up.

“Why don’t we check in there?” the curly hybrid said. The other hybrids turned around to see a small store behind them. It wasn’t specifically a clothing store, but rather it seemed to sell a random assortment of trinkets. There were plush dolls, silverware, and baseball caps on display in the window. It reminded Chanyeol of the store he used to work in.

“Are you sure, Chen?” the silver dog asked. He knew the shorter boy was still upset and didn’t want him to feel like they had to stay there for any longer.

“Soo’s bus won’t be here for like 15 minutes anyway.” The hybrid reasoned. “We may as well try to find something as long as we’re here.” Chanyeol nodded. The older dog had a point and he’d much rather take a chance to find a gift before it was too late.

“Alright, let’s check it out.”

The hybrids were deeply intrigued by the objects within the store. There were so many cute toys and shiny objects. It almost seemed like the store was made to appeal to hybrids.

“Ooooh, this store is nice.” Tao meowed.

“Yeah, but is there anything Kris hyung would like?” Chanyeol questioned. Nothing in the store really seemed to fit Kris’s tastes. It seemed like stuff the blond man probably wouldn’t buy for anyone else, let alone himself.

“Let’s just look around and see what we find.” Baekhyun said. And with that, the hybrids split off again. The store was much smaller than any of the others, plus there were very few humans within it, so the boys didn’t feel the need to stick together. Still, they tended to remain in the same area as each other.

Tao scanned a section in the back that was filled with plush dolls. There were teddy bears, beanie babies, and stuffed animals of all sizes. The kitten wanted to buy all of them, but didn’t imagine that Kris would like them. His picked up a rather large panda plush a rubbed it against his face.

“Whatcha got there, Taozi?” Chanyeol asked.

“Panda.” Tao hummed. Chanyeol giggled.

“Heh, that’s cute. You want one?”

“No, we should only spend our money on Kris ge.” The cat said with a small smile.

“Hm, why don’t you buy him one? That way you would have a present for Kris and you could play with it yourself.”

“This stuff doesn’t really seem like Kris’s style.” The cat replied.

“I think he’d like it, after all, hyung loves cute things.” Chanyeol explained, patting the younger’s head.

“He does?”

“Of course. Why do you think he has four adorable hybrids?” Chanyeol asked, pinching Tao’s cheeks. The ebony hybrid giggled.

“Okay, hyung.” The cat said. “But not this one.” He said, putting the panda back.

“Which one then?” The kitten looked at every toy in the nearby vicinity before grabbing one. It was a husky plush.

“This one.” Tao said nuzzling the toy.

“A dog?”

“Yes, because it reminds me of my pretty dog hyungs.” The boy smiled. Chanyeol returned the smile and took the boy’s hand in his own to go and look for the others. Perhaps they’d found something as well.

Chen and Baekhyun had come across some nice looking shoes. Nothing designer, but not at all bad by any means. And luckily enough, they actually had some in Kris’s size.

“Ooh, check these out, hyung.” Chen said, holding a pair of bright yellow shoes. “Kris hyung would love these.”

“Aish, that color, dude. Why so bright?” the brunet beagle asked.

“They’ll stand out.”

“They don’t need to stand out.”

“But that makes them cooler.”

“No, it makes them obnoxious.” The older dog argued.

“It does not!” Chen barked.

“It does too!”

“Are you guys shopping for Kris or for yourselves?” Came a loud voice. The short pups turned to see Chanyeol and Tao approaching them, Chanyeol’s arm draped around Tao’s neck. The latter was squeezing a large husky toy in his arms.

“For Kris!” Both dogs shouted.

“Then why are you wearing those?” Tao asked with a laugh, pointing to the older hybrids’ feet. Each of them was wearing a pair for shoes that definitely weren’t the ones they entered with. Baekhyun was sporting some camo colored brand name shoes, while Chen had on some bright pink sneakers.

“Oh, these?” Baekhyun asked nervously.

“We were just trying them on.” Chen replied folding his arms.

“Yeah, so you could buy them.” Chanyeol responded.

“Well, now we have to since we touched them.” Chen sighed sadly.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked.

“Some lady got into fit because we touched some stuff in the other store.” Chanyeol mumbled. “She was just a jerk. We have every right to try stuff on too.”

“Ugh, why are some people so rude?” Baekhyun asked. The silver beagle shrugged and they were all quiet for a minute before Tao spoke up.

“I like those shoes hyung.” He said to Baekhyun.

“Really?”

“Mmm Hmm.”

“ Then buy them for me.”

“Waeeee?” Tao whined. The dogs laughed at Tao’s reaction as Baekhyun patted his head. “You are hyung. You should buy for me.” Tao laughed.

“In your dreams.” Baekhyun said. “What’s that toy for anyway?” the dog asked, gesturing at the plush Tao had been crushing in his arms the entire time.

“My present for Kris ge.” He replied, kissing the toy.

“You got Kris a plushie? He’s like 24 years old or something.”

“You’re like 22 or something and you play with plush dolls and sleep with them at night.” Tao countered, smirking.

“I’m a dog and those are dog toys. And I don’t sleep with them. They’re just next to me when I sleep.” The brunet said.

“Yeah, wrapped up in your arms.” Chanyeol added with a laugh.

“Uwaaaa! Hey check these out.” Chen said suddenly, holding a pair of dark blue Adidas shoes. There was a red and black dragon design that adorned each side of the shoe.

“Daebak!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

“Wow, those look so cool!” Tao said.

“Then I’ll get them for Kris hyung.” The curly haired puppy barked cheerfully.

“Oooh, and I’ll get him these.” Baekhyun said, grabbing a set of fancy glass dinner plates that were placed next to the shoe stand.

“Why those?” Chen asked.

“Because they’re fine China and Kris is Chinese.” The brown haired beagle explained happily.

“Then you should buy me some too.” Tao laughed.

“This kid is trying to take all of my money.” Baekhyun said, giving Tao another playful smack on the arm. “I’ll be poor before I turn 30.” The other hybrids laughed at the Baekhyun’s whiny voice.

“Nice, now we all have something to give him.” Chen said, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun.

“What’s your gift, Yeollie?” Baekhyun asked.

“I haven’t found one yet.” The silver dog said sadly. Chen reached into his handbag and pulled out his phone.

“Well, we’ve got about 10 minutes left until the bus gets here.” Chen said, putting the device back in the bag. “You’d better hurry and get something.

“Okay. Now, would go nice with shoes, some plates, and a dog plush?” Baekhyun asked, semi sarcastically.

“A receipt so he can return it all.” Chen yipped. In response to the snarky comment, Baekhyun bit the curly dog’s floppy ear.

“Let’s look over here, hyung.” Tao said, pulling Chanyeol by the arm to the back of the store.

The back was mainly filled with accessories. Women’s jewelry covered most of the racks, but there were a few items for men as well.

“Of course this kid would say to come to the girl’s section.” Baekhyun chuckled.

“There’s boy stuff back here too.” The cat whined. “Oooh, look hyung. You could get him these glasses.” The cat removed his own glasses and placed the pair he’d picked up on his face. The glasses had large, very round lens. They almost resembled Harry Potter’s signature glasses.

“No! Buy him this hat!” Chen exclaims, waving around hat that resembled a nutcracker’s. It certainly fit the season, but Chanyeol wasn’t sure how it would look on Kris.

“No, no! Buy him this eyeliner set!” Baekhyun said.

“Hey, who was the one who didn’t want to buy girl’s stuff?” Tao meowed.

“This is men’s eyeliner.” Baekhyun huffed.

“No, it’s not.” Chen said. The brown haired dog responded by punching the other beagle in the arm; lightly of course.

“I’m going to get him this.” Chanyeol said at last. The others turned to see him holding a gorgeous necklace in his arms. It was a deep red color and had a plastic pheonix at the bottom.

“Wow, so pretty.” Tao said.

“That’s awesome, Yeol.” Baekhyun added.

“And just in time. The bus will be here in 3 minutes. Let’s go pay for this stuff.” Chen said. The others nodded and ran to the registers. All except for Chanyeol. He quickly bounced over to another section to pick up something he also had his eyes on.

Chanyeol and Chen paid at one register, while Baekhyun and Tao made their purchases at another.

“I want to buy those shoes for you, hyung.” Tao purred.

“Wae? You don’t have to.” Baekhyun exclaimed, shocked.

“I want to, beef.” The young cat smiled sincerely. Baekhyun had to turn away to hide his blush.

“I know you’re up to something, but fine.” The beagle replied. Tao giggled as he swiped his card.

After completing the checkout, the hybrids dashed out the door just in time to see D.O.’s bus pulling up to the bus stop. As they approached the stop, they saw Lay and Sehun sitting on the bench. The cat was cradled in the bunny’s arms with a bag sitting on his stomach.

“Well look here. I didn’t think you two would ever find anything.” Baekhyun said with his hands on his hips.

“He bought something that Suho already has.” Sehun whined.

“No he doesn’t.” Lay replied standing up. “I’ve never seen him wear anything like this before.”

“He wore it yesterday.” The cat groaned. The beagles and Li Hua Mao laughed at the adorable couple. The bus finally opened its front doors for the new passengers to get on.

“Hey guys, looks like you got everything you needed.” D.O. said.

“Yep.” Chanyeol said, stepping onto the bus.

“Hey guys!” A small black puppy barked, wagging his tail.

“Kai! What’s up man?” Baekhyun greeted, high fiving the puppy.

“D.O. hyung said he’s taking me out to eat after his shift.” The canine replied.

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” Lay said. “Sehun never wants to go out to eat with me.” The rabbit pouted.

“I would if you’d stop groping me in public.” The cat hissed. The group sat behind Kai so they could all chat with one another on the ride home.

“I can’t wait for Kris’s party!” Kai barked. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

“How would you know? You’ve never been to one of Kris’s parties before.” Sehun said.

“It’ll be fun because we’ll all get to hang out together.” The dog retorted.

“What did you guys end up getting Kris?” Lay asked.

“Ooooh, some shoes, and a necklace, and plates, and a plushie doll.” Tao said happily.

“Hm, well it’s unique.” D.O. said, turning back as the vehicle was at a stop.

“I think he’ll like it.” Chen said.

“Of course he’ll say he likes it. That’s because you spent his money on it.” The Ragdoll said loudly.

“Stop being mean Sehun.” Lay scolded, giving the cat a quick yank of his tail.

“At least we didn’t buy him an outfit he already has.” Baekhyun said with a smirk. And Chanyeol and Chen burst into a roar of laughter.

“That was him, not me!” the cat whined, pointing at his housemate. The rabbit replied by peppering kisses all over Sehun’s face. “Hey, cut it out!”

This time, all of the hybrids and D.O. laughed at the duo. The group kept up their playful banter until reaching Kris’s street corner.

“Alright, guys. Have a good evening.” D.O. said as the dogs and cat stepped off the bus.

“You too, Soo.” Chen said.

“See you all at party.” Tao meowed.

“Bye bye, guys!” Lay said, waving Sehun’s arm. “Love you!”

“Love you too, XingXing!” Baekhyun barked happily.

“Enjoy your dinner!” Chanyeol called out.

“I sure will!” Kai barked in response.

 

After the good byes were done and done, the hybrids made it back home and stored Kris’s gifts in the guest room to be wrapped when he went to work the next day. Immediately following that, the group made their way back downstairs to the couch to have their long awaited and well deserved group cuddle. Baekhyun and Tao even had the bonus of their favorite drama being on TV as well. The short brunet spent time bundled in Chanyeol’s arms babbling to the others about what was going on in the episode. The silver furred dog’s mind was on other things though, as he instead thought about the presents they’d bought.

Chanyeol was happy that they’d found something for their owner, but in the back of his mind he wondered if they’d made the right choices. If they were giving Kris just one of their presents by itself, it probably would have seemed a bit more normal. But to give him a random assorted cluster of stuff…it almost seemed like they just picked up some random crap and said, “Okay, here’s your gift”. He certainly, didn’t want Kris to think that way. They picked out those gifts from the heart, and Chanyeol wanted their owner to understand that when they gave them to him.

I just hope he likes them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much 'action', but this was my favorite chapter so far. I've always loved seeing EXO shopping. Also, as you read, the other characters have finally showed up in person and they will in the next chapter as well.
> 
> I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew that incorrect sentences that Tao said weren't my mistakes. They were intentional errors to show that he still had some struggles with the language. I just think it's cute XD.
> 
> Sadly, this story is winding down to the end. The next chapter will be the last offcial chapter, but I've got some cute epilogues planned that also include the other characters :) So stay tuned for those as well.


	5. Hybrids; Home for the Holidays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Or at least it was Christmas, when I wrote this initially :P I'm sure some people were a bit confused by the constant Christmas themes throughout the chapters. Well that's because this was written for Christmas time, but I didn't think to upload it here. But I hope everyone enjoys this regardless, even if it is a bit late.

It was Christmas Eve, the day of Kris’s Christmas party. The man and his hybrids had been up since 9 A.M., ensuring that all of the preparations were met before the guests would begin arriving. The hybrids were full of enthusiasm, all of them excitedly conversing about how much fun the party will be and all of the things they are going to do with their friends. Their owner, on the other hand, was a complete mess. Though Kris’s previous parties always went off without a hitch, this time he had more to worry about.

This would be the first party with all of his hybrids, along with those that belonged to his friends. It’s not like he thought there would be any issues. All their group’s hybrids loved hanging out together and visiting each other’s houses. Still, they all had their own special ‘quirks’, as Kris called them.

Luhan was very possessive of Xiumin. He hated for other hybrids to simply look at the short man. Heck, he didn’t even like other people around him. Kris had heard millions of stories from Xiumin of the pink haired hybrid literally clinging onto him whenever the two left the house, even for something as trivial as going to the mailbox or ordering at a fast food restaurant. And the deer would do anything and everything in his power to prevent his blond owner from speaking to anyone else. It was only recently that the deer would allow hybrids belonging to Xiumin’s friends to interact with his owner, without hovering over them himself.

Kai. Kai was a puppy, and a weird one at that. Unlike Kris’s beagles who were rambunctious and playful. Kai was quite the introvert. He took pleasure in quiet activities, such as reading, and enjoyed spending time by himself; also unlike the beagles, who needed Kris or other hybrids to be in their vicinity at all times, or else they’d lose their minds. The young dog had become a bit more hyper after spending time with Kris’s pups, and would always be energetic when they or other dog hybrids were around, and especially if he was near his owner. But if the dog was at home by himself, Kai would act much more reserved.

And then there was Sehun. Dear Lord, Sehun. The Ragdoll hybrid was on a whole new level of stubborn. He seemed to be agitated by the simplest of things. He didn’t like being told what to do, he didn’t like other hybrids, he didn’t like social gatherings, he detested skinship, he loathed being treating like a child, he didn’t like humans…the list went on. It wasn’t like Kris or the other owners didn’t understand though. They all knew about Sehun’s unfortunate past. The kitten had been taken from his parents and siblings at birth, due to their rare rainbow fur color, and sold on the black market. Sehun had ended up in about 100 different locations from birth until his late teenage years before being purchased by Suho. And at first the cat wanted nothing to do with the man or his annoying, dreary eyed bunny hybrid.

Lay was having none of that, though. He wanted to give the Ragdoll boy all of the love and attention he never received as a kitten, whether the cat wanted it or not. And being that Lay was the hyung, Sehun really had no room to complain. Yet oddly enough, to Suho and everyone else’s’ surprise, the cat rarely complained. After a while, he started lettting Lay do whatever he wanted with him with few arguments. Any complaints he did have fell on deaf ears as Lay would completely ignore him and continue on with whatever he wanted. He’d feed Sehun, dress him, carry him everywhere, groom him, bathe him, and rock him to sleep. And all of it with no backtalk from the cat. None of them knew why the rabbit had this effect on the troubled kitty. Suho believed that Sehun actually had a small crush on Lay, but neither would ever openly admit to it.

Kris sighed. He knew all of the hybrids, even his own, had come a long way. But still he worried.

“Kris hyung?” The blond man shook himself out of his trance and noticed his precious silver puppy on all fours staring at him with his head tilted.

“Hm? Something wrong, Yeol?”

“Um, I was going to ask you that question.” The puppy replied, standing up properly. “You’ve been staring at the Christmas tree for like 10 minutes.”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.” Kris said. Chanyeol could tell that something was bothering his owner. He wrapped his arms around the taller man and pulled him into a hug.

“What is it?”

“I’m just a bit nervous.”

“How come?” Chanyeol asked.

“I don’t even know. It’s not like this’ll be the first time we’re having a party with a bunch of our friends.” The man explained, mumbling his words in the hybrid’s hair. “I guess I’m worried that something will go wrong.” Chanyeol cupped his owner’s face in his hands and pressed a kiss to the man’s lips.

“It’ll be fine, hyung.” The beagle said softly. Kris couldn’t help but smile back and return the kiss.

“You’re right. Cànliè.” 

In the kitchen, Baekhyun, Chen, and Tao were finishing up the party desserts. All that remained to be completed were the gingerbread cookies. The process would have been going much faster if Chen and Tao were actually helping. Instead, the two were simply standing behind Baekhyun in each other’s embrace watching the brown haired hybrid as he stirred the batter.

“When are you two going to contribute to this party?” Baekhyun asked.

“Hey, we did most of the stuff!” Tao whined.

“Like what?” Baekhyun asked.

“We baked the cake and put up the decorations and, uh put the tree up.” Chen rambled.

“You stirred the cake batter for 5 seconds, put up 3 ornaments, and opened the box that had the tree in it.” Baekhyun countered, rolling his eyes.

“Not me, I decorated the cake.” Tao meowed proudly.

“Why do I have to put up with these kids?”

“Why do I hear more bickering than baking?” Kris asked.

“Ge ge, I helped a lot, right?” Tao asked, cupping his face in his hands. He always did aegyo when he wanted someone to side with him, even if he was wrong.

“Yeah, you helped a lot with Chen’s cuddle needs for today.” Kris laughed, taking the spoon from Baekhyun.

“Ha!” the brown beagle laughed. The other boys pouted.

“We’ll finish this Baek.” Kris said, eying the cuddling hybrids. “Why don’t you help Chanyeol finish in the front?”

“Sure thing, duizhang.” And with that, Baekhyun bounded into the living room.

Strangely, Chanyeol was sitting on the couch staring at an ornament in his hands when Baekhyun walked in. The shorter dog could smell a bit of nervousness on his friend as he sat down next to him. He instantly began licking the silver pup’s cheeks. Chanyeol didn’t say anything. He simply stared back with worry in his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Yeol?”

“Kris is nervous.” Chanyeol said sadly.

“What? How come?” Baekhyun asked, pulling Chanyeol’s head towards his stomach. The brunet stroked the tall boy’s hair as he waited for an answer.

“He just doesn’t want anything to go wrong.”

“Why would something go wrong?”

“I don’t know, but it makes me nervous thinking about it. I don’t want him to be upset.” Chanyeol responded.

“Aish, you two worry too much. Nothing bad is going to happen. We’re all going to have fun.” Baekhyun said, swishing his tail back and forth.

“I know, hyung.” Chanyeol said, smiling a bit. Baekhyun still detected worry from the taller dog.

“Is something else bothering you?” the brunet asked.

“I just…do you think Kris hyung will like his gifts?”

“Of course! Those gifts are amazing! And besides, it’s the thought that counts.” Baekhyun barked happily. Chanyeol agreed with Baekhyun’s reasoning, but still he wanted his owner to like his gift. Kris did so much of them and spoiled them with all of their favorite things. He wouldn’t feel right if Kris didn’t like his presents, especially since this would be their first time actually giving him real, store bought Christmas presents.

“You’re right hyung.” The tall dog said, wagging his tail lightly. “C’mon let’s finish this tree now.”

 

It was around 2:00 when the doorbell rang, signaling that the first guests had arrived.

“Doorbell!” Chen barked, dashing out of the kitchen to the front door. He and the other beagles swarmed the door, paced in circles on all fours, looked out the window and barked like crazy. Tao simply sat on the couch staring at his housemates, his head tilted as he still didn’t understand why dog hybrids like doorbells so much.

“Kris! KREASE!” Chanyeol howled. “Come on!”

“There someone at the door!” Baekhyun yelled, madly scratching at the door.

“You guys know you have thumbs, right?” Kris deadpanned. The beagles paused for a second and looked down and their hands, remembering the existence of the noted appendage.

“Oh.” Baekhyun said quietly. All of the hybrids rose to their feet, brushing themselves off as their animal instincts were sucked back into their systems. Chen was panting after tiring himself out. Kris rolled his eyes and opened the door.

“Hey.” The man had a bit of nervousness in his voice as he spoke. He hoped that the guests weren’t disturbed by the commotion within the house.

“Welcome!” the beagles greeted happily, as if they weren’t just losing their minds a few minutes prior.

“Hi guys. Are you excited because of the party or are you just happy to see us?” Suho joked, patting the beagles on the head.

“Hi hyung.” Chanyeol said.

“Hello, Suho hyung.” Baekhyun added. Chen didn’t say anything else and simply took Suho’s hand and licked it.

“Chen!” Kris scolded, bopping the curly beagle on the head.

“It’s fine, hyung.” Suho laughed. “Believe me, I’m used to it.” The man said, gesturing to the hybrids behind him. Lay was standing behind his owner, staring at a flower in Kris’s front flower garden. He was holding Sehun in his arms bridal-style, a habit the rabbit had whenever they all went somewhere.

“Hi, XingXing. Hey Sehun.” Chen barked. Lay snapped out of his trance and turned towards the others. From this perspective, the hybrids could see a container resting on Sehun’s stomach. No doubt that it contained a yummy dish for the party, cooked by the bunny.

“Oh, hello everyone.” Lay said, finally walking inside the house. The beagles began pressing kisses to Suho’s hybrids. Tao also walked over and gave Sehun a quick head nuzzle.

“Hey, cut it out.” Sehun whined.

“Happy to see you Sehun. And Lay-ge. And Suho hyung.” Tao meowed, bowing to each guest he greeted.

“You too, Taozi.” Suho replied, scratching the kitten’s ear.

“Are we the first ones here?” Lay asked, his eyes half closed.

“Yeah, but everyone else should be here soon. “Kris said. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

“Okay, ge.” Lay said, happily plopping on the couch.

“Um, hyung…” Sehun said, holding up the container that had been resting on his stomach.

“Oh yeah. I made some samgyupsal for the party.” Lay said, taking the container from the Ragdoll.

“Thanks so much Lay. I told you you didn’t have to bring anything.” Kris said, eyeing Suho.

“Don’t look at me. He wanted to. He made it yesterday while I was at work, so I couldn’t even stop him.” The shorter man chuckled.

The sound of the doorbell ringing caught everyone’s attention. It also sent the beagles into yet another frenzy.

“Are they always like this? I mean, I know they’re dogs, but…” Suho asked. Kris shrugged.

“I think it’s just the excitement of the holidays.”

“Geez, good thing we don’t have any dog hybrids at least.” Sehun grumbled. Tao stroked the younger’s hair gently.

Baekhyun opened the door to reveal D.O. and Kai on the other side. Each man held bags in his arms and was sporting a new hairstyle.

“Merry Christmas.” Kai barked.

“Eve.” His owner added with a laugh. He turned to the still excited looking beagles. “Hey, fellas.”

“Merry Christmas guys.” Kris said with a chuckle. “What up with the new looks?” Kai, who’d previously had dark black fur like Tao, was now a bright blond. His owner had added a large amount of red in his originally pure black hair.

“We thought we’d try something new for the party.” D.O. said sheepishly.

“I think it looks awesome!” Baekhyun said.

“Yeah, I wanna dye my hair too.” Tao said.

“Dye it what color?” the brunet asked.

“Red. No blue. Or maybe blond, like Kris ge. Oooh, no wait…”

“You’d take all day just picking out a color.” Sehun said, poking the taller boy’s nose. And everyone laughed.

“Are we interrupting anything?” Everyone turned around to see a grinning Xiumin peeking his head through the door with a deer hybrid wrapped firmly around his body.

“Nah, you’re right on time.” Chanyeol said, walking over to the two men. “Merry Christmas Eve, hyungs.”

“Merry Christmas everyone.” Xiumin said.

“Merry Christmas guys.” Luhan added. “Here are your presents.” The deer said, thrusting several large boxes towards Chanyeol.

“Oh boy, more presents!” Chanyeol said, wagging his tail rapidly. He licked Luhan happily as thanks.

“Gross.” Sehun hisses. Tao leaned over and playfully licked the Ragdoll’s face. “Ack!”

“That’s what happens when a cat lives with 3 dogs for almost 2 months.” Xiumin laughed.

“Hey, cats lick each other too.” Tao whined, yet still smiling.

“Tch. Speak for yourself.” Sehun moaned.

 

With everyone present, Kris decided to begin the festivities. He and his hybrids had gone over a lot of ideas, but finally decided on something that could entertain all of the humans and their pets. Though in Kris’s opinion, it satisfied the desires of the hybrids more than the owners.

“Alright guys, is everyone ready to play?” Baekhyun howled loudly.

“Play what?” Kai asked curiously.

“Christmas Truth or Dare.” Chen replied.

“What’s Christmas Truth or Dare?” Suho asked.

“It sounds fun.” Lay said happily.

“It sounds stupid.” Sehun muttered, earning a pinch from the rabbit.

“You spin the bottle and whoever it lands on has to pick truth or dare.” Chanyeol started.

“If they pick truth, they have to answer a question about Christmastime. If they go with dare, they have to do a Christmas dare.” Baekhyun finished.

“What’s a Christmas dare?” Luhan asked his owner.

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.” The short blond man replied.

“No more talking. Let’s start playing.” Chen said, rubbing his hands together mischievously.

Everyone sat in a circle in the middle of Kris’s living room. All the humans sat next to their hybrids and Sehun sat upright in Lay’s lap.

“I get to go first.” Tao said as he grabbed the bottle.

“Why you?” Kai asked.

“Because...because…because me first.” The kitten laughed and then spun the bottle.

“Great reasoning.” Baekhyun said. The bottle eventually landed on Kris.

“Oh great.” The tall man moaned.

“Which is it, hyung? Truth or dare?” Chen put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘dare’.

“I’m going with truth, because I don’t know what you guys have been plotting with this.”

“Okay, ge. Tell us what you got us for Christmas.” Tao giggled. The entire room burst out into laugher and screams of “oooooohhhhhh”.

“What?! You can’t ask that!” Kris yelled in shock. He certainly didn’t want to ruin the boys’ surprise presents.

“Yes we can!” Baekhyun barked back. And Kris’s eyes narrowed at the word ‘we’. Clearly the beagle bunch and Tao had all agreed to ask his this question if the opportunity arose.

“This almost seems more like a dare than a truth.” Xiumin commented.

“Hey, yeah! This isn’t even a ‘truth’ question.” Kris said.

“Yes it is.” Tao argued. “You have to tell me the truth about what you bought me.” Kris facepalmed. Not only had his hybrids created questions to be asked beforehand, but they were going to use nonsensical logic to try to justify them. He almost wanted to end the game until an idea popped into his mind.

“You want to know the truth? Okay. The truth is that the present is really nice and something you’re all going to like.” The man smirked. And then the tables were turned as Kris’s hybrids were now the target of laugher.

“Ooooh. He got you guys there.” Suho said.

“What? That doesn’t count.” Bakehyun pouted.

“Yes it does. All you wanted was the truth, and you got it.” Kris said laughing. “And now I’m next.” Kris’s hybrids pouted as their plan had failed.

The bottle landed on Luhan.

“Oooh. Truth or dare, Lulu?” Xiumin asked.

“I’ll go with dare.” The deer said proudly to everyone’s surprise.

“Are you sure?” Kris asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yes. Yes! Dare him!” Chen screamed into Kris’s ear.

“I’m sure. Go for it.” Luhan said.

“Alright. I dare you to sit on the opposite side of Xiumin hyung for the rest of the game.” The deer hybrid’s face fell. Another roar of laugher burst from the group.

“Awesome hyung!” Chen barked, clapping madly.

“Guess you shouldn’t have picked that one Luhan.” Suho said.

“Hey, now you get to sit by me!” Chanyeol said happily, outstretching his arms.

“But wait? How is this a Christmas dare?” Luhan asked.

“Hm, oh yeah. And sing a Christmas carol as you leave.” Kris said, clearly just pulling the request out of nowhere. Luhan signed and gave Xiumin a longer than necessary, painfully tight hug before he made his way over to Chanyeol, singing the saddest rendition of Jingle Bells the world had ever heard. Xiumin patted the hybrid’s head before he trotted away. Chanyeol smothered Luhan into a hug as the deer sat next to him.

“I’m gonna make it land on him and then dare him to sit by me again.” Luhan said smirking.

“Ah ah. It actually has to land on him first.” Baekhyun said.

“And then he has to pick dare.” Sehun added.

“And you have to find a way to make it Christmas-y. Lay said, rubbing the cat hybrid’s arm. Luhan stared intently at the bottle, then leaned down and kissed it.

“C’mon bottle. Bring me Baozi.” Luhan said as he spun the bottle. The bottle actually spun for a while before landing on D.O.

“Aw.” Tao meowed, not appearing to be sad in the slightest. He giggled when the deer glared at him.

“Which will you pick, hyung?” Kai asked, tail wagging as he looked at his owner.

“Dare.” The wide eyed man said simply.

“Really?” Kris asked with an eyebrow raised.

“He won’t give me anything bad if he knows what’s good for him.” D.O. replied, glancing slightly at Luhan. To be honest, D.O. had no plans to harm Luhan no matter what he suggested. He just hoped his empty threat would scare Luhan into behaving. The small gulp he noticed from the pink haired deer seemed to suggest that it worked.

“Um, okay. I dare you to…kiss Baekhyun under the mistletoe” Luhan said finally. D.O. wasn’t even able to let out a full ‘What?’ before he was pounced on by a brown haired beagle hybrid.

“Hey, cut it out Baek! Stop, you’re tickling me!” D.O. couldn’t help but laugh as the pup’s tongue ran across his face. After a few seconds, the dog removed himself from D.O.’s body and bounded back to his spot.

“Ooooh, Kai you’ll have to get revenge on him for that one.” Chanyeol said.

“It wasn’t even under the mistletoe.” Xiumin pointed out.

“Sorry, I got too excited.” Baekhyun said, his ears flopping on his head cutely.

“My turn.” D.O. said, spinning the bottle. It landed on Lay and, by association due to being on the bunny’s lap, Sehun.

“Well what do we do here?” Suho asked.

“I’ll take it.” Lay said, smiling yet raising Sehun’s arm. Everyone in the room cooed at Lay’s adorable sacrifice.

“Okay Lay, truth or dare.” D.O. asked.

“Truth, so I won’t have to leave my Sehunnie.” And another ocean of coos echoed around the room.

“Oh great, now we’re going to be stuck on him for an hour while he thinks.” Sehun said. Suho smacked the kitten lightly on the arm.

“Hey, be nice.”

“Hm. If you could get anything in the world for Christmas, what would it be?” the owl boy asked.

“Oh, I don’t think I really need anything.” The bunny replied.

“Come on hyung, pick something.” Kai barked.

“Hm. Oh, I know. I’d want Sehunnie to hug me.” Lay said seriously. And almost everyone in the room’s mood dropped. Everyone looked back and forth between each other, unsure if they should change the subject or not. They all knew about the strange ‘relationship’ between Suho’s hybrids and how Sehun, though tolerant of Lay’s cuddling, never really initiated any contact with the elder. They’d all figured that he was simply too embarrassed to do it in public, but would at least do so at home. Now they wondered.

“Lay you know…” Suho began before being cut off by Sehun.

“What do you mean? I’ve hugged you before.” The cat pouted. He knew he was distant with Lay, but after about a year of living with the other hybrid, he was sure that he had to have willingly hugged the rabbit at some point. Right?

“I don’t remember.” Lay said in disbelief.

“Well why don’t you hug him now?” Tao asked before anyone could say anything else. He pulled Baekhyun’s body towards his own as if giving an example and Sehun looked surprised for a minute before replying.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Sehun said as he crushed the rabbit into an, awkward due to their placement, hug. Everyone was soon brought back to happiness as they noticed the genuine smile on Lay’s face. “But this counts as my turn too, so I’m spinning the bottle next.” The cat said.

Kris patted his cat hybrid on the head, a quiet ‘thank you’ for diffusing the situation. The kitten purred in response. And as fate would have it, the bottle landed on Tao next.

“Alright Tao, what is your pick?” Chanyeol asked, grinning.

“Um, dare please.” The ebony cat meowed.

“Really?!” Kris exclaimed, shocked once again.

“Is that all you can say, hyung?” Chanyeol muttered.

“Nah, it’s just…Taozi…” Kris said, unable to properly voice his reasoning.

“It’ll be fine, ge.” Tao said.

“What’s the dare, Sehun?” Kai asked.

“Hm, I didn’t really have anything in mind, but since you asked, kiss Tao under the mistletoe.” Sehun said, in a very bored tone.

“Why do guys keep daring people to kiss?” Kris asked.

“At least do it under the mistletoe this time.” Xiumin said.

“Why does it seem like you’re daring me instead of Tao?” Kai said, standing up nonetheless.

“I hope someone dares me to kiss Sehunnie.” Lay said quietly. No one seemed to notice Lay’s comment as everyone was focused on the cat and the dog under the mistletoe who were giggling and chuckling as they tried to find a way to kiss each other properly. Tao’s hands cupped Kai’s face, while Kai had his arms wrapped around Tao’s back.

“Okay, just do it.” Tao said.

“No, wait. You go first.” Kai chuckled.

“No you first.”

“No you.”

“C’mon just do it!” Chen barked.

Eventually the two young hybrids pressed their lips together to complete their dare and the hybrids were mad with laughter. Lay clapped Sehun’s hands together and chuckled quietly to himself.

“Okay Tao, you spin next.” Kris said, handing him the bottle.

“And whoever gets chosen, no more kiss dares.” D.O. glaring at the hybrids.

“But it’s kissmas.” Tao giggled. And the hybrid became a target for much ‘booing’ for his corny pun.

The bottle landed on Suho.

“Oooh, look at that. It’s me.” Suho said clapping, seemingly excited for some reason.

“And your choice is?” Baekhyun asked.

“Christmas truth.”

“How much money did you spend on Lay ge and Sehun’s presents?” Tao asked. Kai chuckled a little, but Kris’s face morphed into a small frown.

“Hey Tao, that’s a bit personal.” Kris scolded.

“It’s okay this time, hyung. They actually already know what their presents are.” Suho responded. “Don’t you?” He said glaring at Sehun.

“I may have found out.” Sehun mumbled into Lay’s hair.

“Hee hee.” The bunny giggled sheepishly.

“Yeah, these two went around snooping and found the new sweater vests I bought them.” Suho said, wiggling his body.

“Sweater vests?” Tao asked.

“Yes, they were custom made, personalized, designer sweater vests made from one of my parent’s best clothing stores.”

“Designer sweater vests?” D.O. chuckled. “That’s a new one.”

“What did you personalize?” Xiumin asked curiously.

“The both have their names printed on the back in a special velvet fabric, while the fronts have a giant yarn animal on them. Lay’s is blue bunny and Sehun’s is a rainbow cat.” The rich man explained. “They’re scented as well. Sehun’s smells like catnip while Lay’s has a carrot aroma.”

“Wow, that’s actually pretty nice.” Kris commented.

“They’re cute!” Lay cheered, clapping Sehun’s hands once again.

“They’re itchy.” The cat whined.

“Wae? You tried them on too?” Xiumin asked, slightly laughing.

“Aigoooo. I wanted to make sure they fit.” Sehun defended.

“Yeah you should have told us. I would have ordered one for Kai.” D.O. said, scratching his puppy behind the ears.

“Oooh me too! I want one too.” Tao mewed, swishing his tail back and forth. Suho smiled and chuckled softly. Tao’s tail was unintentionally hitting Baekhyun in the face and the beagle tried to catch it in his teeth.

“Alright Suho, you spin next.” Luhan said, clapping. Suho spun the bottle and it landed on Chanyeol.

“Oooooh me! It landed on me! Oh boy, oh boy!” the silver beagle barked, bouncing in place.

“Which are you picking, Yeollie?” Kris asked.

“Um, truth.” The pup replied, getting into a play bow with his tail wagging rapidly.

“Really?” Kris asked.

“For pete’s sake, hyung.” Baekhyun whined, smacking his owner on the arm.

“You guys are probably doing this to mess with me. Why would Chanyeol pick truth?” Kris asked, rubbing the stinging spot on his arm.

“Well, since you picked truth, I’m going to ask what your Christmas wish is.” Suho said. Chanyeol got out of his bow and looked over to Kris, clearly confused.

“Christmas wish?”

“You know, what you want to happen on Christmas more than anything else.” The blond man replied.

“It doesn’t even have to be a present.” Luhan explained as he patted the dog’s back. “It could just be that you have a fun day.”

“Oh well, in that case, my Christmas wish is that my Kris hyungie likes his gifts.” Chanyeol said, gesturing to the tall man. A chorus of ‘aw’s’ flew around the room as everyone stared at the duo. Kris smiled at his silver puppy.

“You know I’ll love whatever you guys got me.” The man said, scratching Chanyeol under his chin.

“Yeah, but I don’t just want you to like it because we got it. I want you to like it because you like it.” The hybrid explained. The humans giggled at the dog’s word choice.

“I’m sure I’ll love it.” Chanyeol smiled and nuzzled into his owner’s face, creating another uproar of ‘aw’s’.

“C’mon, let’s keep playing.” Baekhyun whined, wiggling his rear end. Chanyeol , still leaning on Kris, quickly spun the bottle which ended up stopping on Xiumin.

“Oooh, what’s it gonna be hyung?” Suho asked.

“Pick dare, hyung.” Kai said.

“Yeah, do a dare!” Chen barked.

“I guess I’m going with dare then.” The short blond said.

“Dare him to sit next to me!” Luhan yelled directly in Chanyeol’s ear.

“I want to see Xiumin hyung do a sexy dance to a Christmas song.” Chanyeol said. Everyone in the room let out a loud ‘wooooaaaahhh!’ and stared eagerly at the eldest.

“Huh?” Xiumin’s face was a mixture of shocked, confused, and adorable.

“Do it, hyung! Do it!” Chen chanted.

“Yeah, let’s see it hyung.” D.O. said, his eyes appearing wider than usual.

“What song though?” Xiumin asked, standing up and brushing off his pants.

“Let’s sing it!” Tao meowed.

The group probably sang about 8 different songs for Xiumin to dance to, and he did quite well if the hollers, whistles, and cat calls were anything to go by. Nearly everyone died laughing. Kai laughed so hard that he broke into a fit of coughing and needed water to calm down. Almost everyone was soon sprawled on their backs, lying on top of each other as their laughter died down.

“Oh my gosh. That was amazing.” Baekhyun moaned, panting heavy.

“Man hyung, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dance like that.” D.O. said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Not even to Kpop songs.”

“I guess that’s a compliment.” Xiumin laughed, attempting to push Luhan off of him. The deer had latched onto his owner as soon as he’d finished his ‘performance’ and was excitedly nuzzling against him like crazy.

“We know he’s yours Lulu, you don’t need to mark him.” Kris said, patting the deer’s head.

“Aw man. I’m so tired…of laughing.” Chen said, letting his last few giggles exit his lips.

“I’m hungry.” Tao mumbled into Baekhyun’s face.

“Yeah, me too.” Sehun said.

“Hungry………………yes.” Lay said slowly. “Food.”

“It has been a while.” Chanyeol said, staring at his owner hopefully.

“Agreed. I’ll get the food out.” Kris said, standing up. As usual, his silver puppy followed him into the kitchen. The twin towers took out all of the pre-prepared food items and organized them as they’d planned. The owner’s food was placed on the kitchen counter, while the hybrid friendly food was on the dining table. Chanyeol licked his lips as his mouth watered. They had created quite a delicious spread. There were 5 different types of meat for the dogs, including Lay’s samgyupsal, an ocean of seafood for the felines, and a nice assortment of fruit and vegetables for the herbivores.

“Alright everyone, come and get it!” Kris called. The hybrids came in running, instantly swarming the dinner table. The puppies immediately dove into the meat, grabbing it in the teeth and devouring it as if they were wild animals, not bothering with any plates or utensils. The cats took a more civil approach. Tao grabbed a fork and a plate and put a large helping of fish on it and ate it peacefully, watching the hyper dogs with a mild curiosity. Chanyeol sat next to the kitten and would remove the fish bones he was done with, and then put more helpings on his plate as he ate. Kai was seated on his other side and would occasionally offer him slices of meat wrapped in lettuce, which the cat would of course take. Sehun as usual was fed by Lay. The Ragdoll was sitting on the edge of the table as the rabbit gave him piece after piece of salmon as he cradled him his arms. Luhan munched on some strawberries and held up a carrot to Lay’s mouth so the bunny could have his fair share of nourishment.

The owners were pleased to watch their hybrids happily eating together. It was also quite amusing to see how they all interacted with each other. The humans almost felt like they were watching a documentary.

“It may not look like much, but this is really nice to see.” Kris said, taking a sip of wine.

“Yeah, it’s almost hard to believe how a lot of them used to be, you know, kind of distant.” Xiumin added.

“I know what you mean. I never could have imagined Tao being that comfortable with dogs a few months ago.” D.O. said with a smile. “You and your pups did well.”

“Thanks.” Kris said.

“Same with Sehun. He used to be so irritated by dogs and now…well he’s still annoyed with them. But at least he’s not as outwardly vocal about it.” Suho said sheepishly, taking a bite out of one of the gingerbread cookies. “And he’s become more tolerant of other hybrids’ affection.”

“Any progress is good progress.” Xiumin said, biting into his cake. “Lulu used to hate being around other hybrids because he thought I’d pay more attention to them than him. Now look at him with everyone else.” The short man said, watching his deer gently feed Lay.

“I have to say that your beagles are a great influence.” D.O. said to his host. “They’re all so sweet and love to take care of others. They even broke Kai out of his little shell. He actually acts like a puppy at home now.” The red haired man laughed.

“Thanks, but I had nothing to do with it. They were all like that before I even met them.” The tall man said, smiling fondly at his puppies.

“They’re going to love the presents you bought them.” Suho said, patting his friend’s shoulder.

“I hope so.”

“They definitely will.” Xiumin said.

“You better film their reactions since we won’t see you give them to them.” D.O. said.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to have my camera ready.” Kris said with a laugh. “You’ll all get to see them on Instagram in the morning.”

“We’re all probably going to uploading pictures all night.” Xiumin laughed. “They’re getting spoiled this year.”

“I’m just glad I found out about Sehun and Lay’s snooping before I brought their other gifts home.” Suho said. 

“Oh yeah, I have to get those out of my car before the party ends.” D.O. said, completely forgetting that he’d been storing his friend’s gifts for the past few weeks.

“If you give me your keys I’ll get them now. I have to get my presents for the gift exchange anyway.”

“Now is the best time to go seeing as they’re all distracted right now.” Kris said, glaring at the feeding frenzy that still going on.

“Yeah, give me five minutes.” Suho said as he grabbed D.O.’s keys.

“Everyone else has their stuff ready, right?” Xiumin asked.

“Yeah, our stuff is in the front under the tree.” Kris said.

“Alright, let’s wait until they finish eating and then we can deal out the gifts.” D.O. said, clapping.

In the weeks before the party, Kris and his friends had decided that they’d all bring gifts for everyone else to be given out at the party. However, they’d save their special gifts for their own hybrids for when they were alone at home. As much as they all wanted to see the other hybrids’ happy reactions upon receiving their gifts, they knew that those were best to be given in privacy. It was a special moment between pet and owner. Thus they also agreed to take several pictures and videos to put on their online social media for everyone to see.

 

After the hybrids finished their feast, Kris sent them all to the bathroom to wash up before the gift exchange. As he expected, they were in there for around 20 minutes, plenty of time for the owners to get all of their gifts ready and organized. Eventually, the hybrid cluster made their way back downstairs.

“Okay Kris hyung, we’re ready!” Chanyeol barked happily. He and the other hybrids’ mouths dropped at the sight on the first floor. All of the Christmas lights were glowing on the tree and on the walls. There were several presents decorating the floor. The room also smelled deliciously like peppermint and catnip.

“Woah, what’s all this?” Baakhyun asked, unable to control how out of control his tail was wagging.

“Merry Christmas, guys.” Kris said happily.

“C’mon, let’s open your presents.” Suho added, holding up a large box.

“Everybody hand out all of your gifts.” D.O. said. The hybrids nodded and distributed all of the gifts they’d purchased for their friends. It was rather crowed and unorganized considering how many people were in the room and how small the living room was. Still, everyone managed to give out all of the gifts they purchased.

Chanyeol was a bit nervous. The presents they’d gotten for Kris were in a large box behind the Christmas tree. He almost didn’t want to give it to him. Even though his stuff was still wrapped up, he could feel that they were all very nice gifts. He’d feel awful if he got a bunch of amazing stuff and his gift for Kris ended up being the worst.

“Who wants to go first?” Chanyeol was snapped out of his thoughts by Suho’s call.

“Ooooh , me!” Tao meowed, pressing his fists against his cheeks.

“Stop doing aygeo!” Baekhyun barked, slapping Tao’s arm. The ebony kitten smacked him back, creating a small scuffle between the two.

“Hurry and open the gifts, Tao. We can’t waste time, everyone else needs to open theirs.” Their owner nudged the bickering duo with his foot. Tao ended the mini battle by climbing on top of Baekhyun and then laying his stomach on top of the dog’s back. Chen got down as well and lay next to the pouting beagle.

Tao finally began ripping into his first present. It was a large box that was bigger than the kitten’s own head. It had a lovely floral wrapping paper.

“That one is from us.” D.O. said, patting his hybrid on the head. Tao meowed in response, too excited to say any words. He eventually pulled open the box to reveal a large fluffy, blue scarf.

“Oooooh, it’s so pretty.” Tao mewed. Chen took the scarf and wrapped it around the hybrid’s neck. Tao tilted his head and purred, his way of posing for everyone.

“Aw, it looks so cute!” Lay cooed.

“It matches your fur nicely, Tao.” Xiumin added.

“That scarf is so pretty.” Luhan said. “I wish I had one.”

“Hurry up!” Baekhyun whined, tugging on Tao’s scarf. “Open the rest.”

In addition to the beautiful scarf, Tao also received a new pair of socks from Xiumin and Luhan, some catnip scented Gucci cologne from Kris, and a panda plushie from Chanyeol.

“Hey, isn’t this the one from the store?” Tao asked, cuddling the toy.

“Yeah, I got it after you walked off since you said you liked it so much.” The silver beagle said.

“It looks like you too.” Chen added.

“Thank you so much, pretty hyung!” Tao said, squeezing Chanyeol into a hug.

“Pretty?” Sehun questioned.

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Kris said.

“Everyone should open the gifts from us together.” Suho said.

“How come?” Kai asked.

“You’ll see when you open them.” All of the hybrids grabbed the boxes that were said to be from Suho. Each box was the same size, differing only in the wrapping paper used. Each pet wasted no time in ripping into the paper.

“Woah! Wait are these the sweaters?” Luhan asked. “The ones you got Lay and Sehun?” Inside his box was a sweater vest that seemed to nearly match the description Suho gave of his hybrids’ gifts. Luhan’s had a large yarn deer on it and it smelled of pine needles.

“Yep, I got one made for each one of you.” Suho said.

“Man, Myeon, this must have cost a fortune.” Kris said in shock. The way Suho spoke of the sweater vests, it was obvious that simply two would be expensive. But to have 8 of them made?

“We’ll have to pay you back for this, hyung.” D.O. said, holding up Kai’s vest. “This is really nice.”

“You didn’t have to go to all of this trouble.” Xiumin said.

“No need for any of that. It’s Christmas. I just hope everyone enjoys their gifts.” Suho said.

“Put them on now!” Lay sang, clapping his own hands for once.

“But we don’t even have ours.” Sehun pouted.

“Yes, you do.” Suho said, pulling two sweater vests out of his bag. A large smile stretched across Lay’s face as he reached for the vests. Sehun turned away to hide the smile that was growing on his face. He wanted to keep his slightly ‘tough’ image.

All of the hybrids rolled around in joy with their new designer sweater vests. They were so soft and comfortable, and the embedded scents just made them even more enjoyable.

“Alright, alright. Who’s next for presents?” Kris asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate.

“Kai.” Chanyeol said simply. “Then Sehun, so we can finish all the maknaes.”

“Does that mean I have to go last?” Luhan asked pouting.

“C’mon Lulu, let the babies go first.” Xiumin said, pinching the deer’s cheeks.

“Hey, I’m not a baby.” Sehun pouted childishly.

The others laughed as Kai began opening his presents. He’d gotten mostly toys and clothes, but his present from the eldest hyungs were definitely his favorite.

“Dance Party Revolution?! Omg, this is the best game ever!” the blond puppy barked, licking Luhan and his owner in glee.

“Of course I had to take care of my little dancer.” Xiumin said, patting the puppy’s head. “Just make sure you go easy when you play with D.O.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” the red haired man whined.

Continuing on with the gifts, Sehun moved to open his next. He was actually surprised when Lay didn’t take them and open them for him.

“Yah, aren’t you going to open them?” He asked, shoving the box at Lay.

“I thought you might want to do it yourself.” Lay said, gently patting Sehun’s butt.

“Just open them.” Sehun pouted, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“Now isn’t that sweet?” Xiumin said.

“Aw, let me take a picture.” Baekhyun said, grabbing his phone. Tao did the same.

“Aigooo, don’t take pictures.” Sehun said, hiding his face in Lay’s hair.

“Oooh wait, let me film it.” Suho said.

“Waaaeeee!”

Sehun ended up receiving some bubble teas from Luhan, new shoes from Xiumin, a hoodie from Kris’s pack, some mittens from D.O. and a new iPod from Kai.

“Wow, Kai. This is really nice, thank you.” Sehun had a genuine smile on his face for once. Kai was about to respond to Sehun verbally, but he thought it would be much more fun to give his kitty buddy a friendly licking instead. D.O. and Suho of course snapped as many pictures as possible.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough Kai.” D.O. said, pulling his hybrid off of Sehun. “Now who’s next?”

The hybrids only got more and more excited as everyone opened their gifts. Lay followed after Sehun, since he was right there next to him and already in a ‘present opening mood’, as Chen called it. To everyone’s surprise, Sehun actually assisted his bunny in opening his gifts. Lay had received a unicorn plush toy from Tao and some carrot flavored treats from the rest of his housemates. Xiumin bought him socks with small rabbits on them as decoration while Luhan added some shoes to go along with them. D.O. and Kai definitely went all out, giving the boy a keyboard.

“Uwaaaaa, this is so cool.” Lay’s eyes widened for the first time at the party and his dimple was practically illuminating his face. He hugged the giant box containing his new instrument. “Thank you so much guys.”

“Thank Kai, it was his idea.” D.O. patted his hybrid on the back. He was proud of the puppy for giving his hyung such a special gift.

“This is the best present ever. Thank you Kai-ssi.” The rabbit sighed happily. And D.O. swore he caught Sehun trying to hide the faintest of smiles.

“You deserve it, hyung. I know how much you love playing music.” The puppy said shyly.

“Thanks so much for this, Soo. It means a lot.” The rabbit’s owner said, smiling fondly at the younger duo. He knew D.O. sort of struggled with cash, which was one of the main reasons why he couldn’t keep Tao. Suho was certainly happy with the decision to gift the man with a nice amount pocket money as his present.

Luhan went next seeing as he was the last hybrid guest. He’d received a cute hat that resembled a Koala from his owner, a tea set from Sehun, an assortment of hair dyes from Suho and Lay, a new phone case from D.O. and Kai, and a coffee maker from Kris’s crew.

“I wish I could have gotten something better.” D.O. remarked sadly. “I’m always at a loss when buying presents for exotic hybrids.”

“Don’t feel bad, Soo.” Luhan said, embracing the man. “I love all of my gifts.”

“Yeah, everything here is perfect.” Xiumin added, placing the hybrid’s new hat on his head. The specially made hat even had holes that the deer’s antlers could fit through.

Chen was chosen to go after Luhan. Most had opted for Chanyeol since he was the next youngest of Kris’s bunch, but he insisted that he wanted to open his presents last.

Chen received a fancy designer hat from Suho’s crew, a new handbag, that totally wasn’t another purse, from the eldest hyungs, and a dinosaur chew toy from D.O. and Kai.

“Wow, these are so daebak.” The curly haired dog said. Chanyeol, Tao, and Baekhyun approached him after he’d organized all of his new items.

“From Kris hyung and us.” Chanyol said, thrusting a large bag at the half beagle. Chen tilted his head and sniffed the bag before ripping out the colorful paper. Inside the bag were several teddy bears, all of which were wearing different outfits. He could detect the vague scent of biscuits on some of the plushies and catnip on others. 

“Uwwwaaaa, so cute!!” He barked, pressing all of the bears against his face at once.

“Oh, pretty hyung, put your new shoes on too.” Tao meowed. He handed Chen the sneakers they’d purchased while looking for Kris’s present. “And you too, ugly beef.” The cat had a frown on his face and spoke in a scolding tone before breaking into a smile immediately after. He held the shoes to Baekhyun as he tried not to fall over from his massive laughing fit. The pup snatched his camo shoes away from Tao and playfully bit the Li Hua Mao’s arm.

“Ugly beef?” Sehun questioned, trying to push a nuzzling Lay’s head away from his face.

“I should chew up all of this kid’s presents.” The brown haired beagle laughed, lightly punching Tao. He sat down on all fours and pulled his presents towards him. Chanyeol sat next to him and did most of the unwrapping, while Baekhyun pulled the gifts out of their confines.

“OMG, an eyeliner set!” he exclaimed upon opening Luhan’s gift.

“I didn’t know what color was your favorite, so I just bought an entire set.”

“Thank you, hyung. This is the best gift ever!” Bakehyun’s tail was wagging a mile a minute.

“You’ve only opened two gifts.” Chanyeol reminded him. “And the other one was the hat I gave you.” The taller pup pouted. Baekhyun rolled his eyes and put the snapback on his head. He then promptly gave his silver furred friend a puppy kiss on the cheek.

“Ew.” Sehun mumbled.

“Cute.” Lay cooed.

The third present Baekhyun received was a giant peach pillow.

“A peach?” the beagle questioned.

“I was gonna get you a cute camel or something, but Tao chose this one.” Chen pouted.

“It’s because my name means peach, so you can think of me whenever you sleep.” Tao said grinning.

“In that case, I’m going to give it to Sehun.” The brunet dog tossed the pillow to Sehun, who pawed at it before handing it off to Lay. Tao knew they all were joking, but he still playfully climbed on top of Baekhyun as ‘revenge’.

“Open that one Baekhyun!” Kai barked, gesturing at a large box with an even larger ribbon. Tao grabbed the box and pulled it towards himself before Baekhyun could even reach for it. Not that he could really move considering the fact that he was still being crushed by the tall cat. Tao playfully stuck his tongue out at Baekhyun as he proceeded to open the present.

“That’s the present from us.” Suho said, pulling his hybrids into a hug. Tao slowly and gently pulled the paper apart, intentionally trying to annoy Baekhyun.

“Hurry up!” The brown puppy whined. “Little brat.” Tao giggled as he shoved the unwrapped box over to Baekhyun.

“I hope you like it, Baekkie.” Lay said. As Baekhyun pulled the tape apart, he noticed the delightful aroma of fruit. The source of said smell was discovered as the small dog finally ripped the top flaps off of the box.

“Candles?”

“Yup, scented candles.” Suho answered.

“Sorry. The store didn’t have any doggy flavors.” Lay said sadly.

“Don’t be sorry. I love them!” the puppy said, wagging his tail. Tao slowly leaned over to curiously sniff the candles. Baekhyun handed one to the black kitten as he examined the other one. “But where should I put them?” The beagle’s ears flopped as he became deep in thought.

“Why don’t we just put them in our room?” Chanyeol asked, moving onto the present from D.O.

“I want them to be down here so everyone can see.”

“We’ll figure that out later.” Kris said.

“Ooooh, hyung! Look what Soo and Kai got you!” Chanyeol excitedly said. A pink bone shaped squeaky toy was presented to Baekhyun. His jaw dropped and his tongue fell out of his mouth once he laid eyes on the gift. Chanyeol swore he saw drool bubbling in the shorter dog’s mouth.

“Waaahhh, this is awesome!” It was all Baekhyun said before taking the toy in his mouth and biting on it like mad. The living room was soon filled with the high pitched squeaks of the toy.

“Really, Soo?” Kris slowly rubbed his head, already anticipating the future headaches.

“Heh, sorry hyung. Kai picked it out.” D.O. said sheepishly.

“But it’s so much fun!” Kai barked. The pup wiggled on his owner’s lap, belly up.

“Yes it is, Kai.” D.O. rubbing the boy’s tummy. Tao hissed at the noise and unsuccessfully tried to swat the toy away from Baekhyun.

“Guess you won’t care about my gift after that.” Kris chuckled. He handed Baekhyun a cylindrical wrapped present which the dog immediately tore into. It was a container of his favorite bacon flavored treats.

“Wuw Kwis nyung, dis is gate.” The dog said, his mouth still full of squeaky toy. Everyone could also now clearly see the drool dripping off the sides of the dog’s mouth and the toy.

“I’m glad you like it so much.” The blond giant handed the small beagle a napkin for his face. “Alright, Yeollie, your turn.” Kris said turning to the silver dog. Chanyeol smiled and happily bounded onto the couch, wanting his owner to open the presents with him.

Chanyeol was quite pleased with his presents from their friends. He’d received some Kpop mini package albums from the Kim-Lu’s, a new mp3 player from the Do’s and a Michael Jackson CD from Suho and his clan.

“This is all so wonderful.” The puppy panted, slobbering kisses on each of the guest’s faces. All except Sehun who desperately hid behind Lay.

“Alright Kris, what’s your gift?” Xiumin asked.

“Well, it’s up to you if you want to take it or not, but…” Kris handed a small folded piece of paper to Chanyeol. The puppy stared at the paper, confused by it and his owner’s vague statement. He gave the paper a quick sniff before taking it into his hands and opening it.

“C’mon, don’t leave us in the dark. What is it?” Sehun hissed. Suho lightly patted him as a scolding for being rude, though honestly he was getting impatient as well.

“Yeah, Chanyeol what is it?” the Suho asked.

“It’s…a sign-up sheet?” he looked at his owner with a tilted head and one raised ear, the ideal image of a confused puppy. Kris couldn’t help but chuckle and ruffle the dog’s hair.

“Well, if you read it, you’ll see it’s an application for music lessons.”

“Music lessons?”

“Yeah, there’s a community center down the street that’s starting up a music club just for hybrids. They’ll have classes for about 8 weeks and teach you how to play whatever instrument you want; drums, guitar, anything. And if they get a lot of names, I heard they might even do singing and dancing lessons.

“Woah, that sounds cool!” Chen barked.

“Hey, I want to go.” Kai said, wiggling over to Kris. “I’m already good at dancing.”

“Oooh, I wanna sing.” Baekhyun said. His mouth was free as Tao had taken the noisy toy away. He gave it an experimental bite before promptly setting it aside. Dog toys weren’t really fun.

“What about rapping?” Sehun asked.

“There’s no such thing as a rapping class.” Luhan pointed out.

“Yes there is!” The cat countered. “I’ve seen it on TV.”

“TV is fake.” The deer retorted. Sehun hissed as he tried to get up to tussle with Luhan. Of course he was held in place by the blue haired bunny.

“I’m sure they can teach rapping too.” Suho said. The Ragdoll stuck his tongue out at the deer.

“This is amazing, hyung. Thank you.” Chanyeol said, hugging his owner.

“No problem, kid.” Kris responded. Chanyeol could barely react as he felt his shoulders grabbed and his lips pressed onto his owner’s.

“Woah, woah!” Xiumin said loudly. He covered his hybrid’s eyes as he laughed to himself.

“Geez, hyung. Warn someone next time.” D.O. said as he pressed Kai’s face into his shirt.

“Aw. I never thought Kris hyung would be the one to show off some PDA.” Suho said, snapping a quick picture. Kris laughed as he broke the kiss and patted Chanyeol’s back. The hybrid could feel how hot his face had gotten and he promptly covered it with hands.

“Aye, he’s turning red!” Baekhyun howled.

“Aigoooo…” the silver dog whined.

“Kris ge should open his presents now.” Tao mewed, playing with Chen’s ears. Chanyeol quickly snapped out of his embarrassment as it soon turned to worry. He’d just gotten one of the greatest gifts ever from his owner, and what did he have to say thanks? Some shoes, a plastic necklace, a plushie? The silver dog was immediately regretting his choices. He should have gone to a better store. He was almost quivering at the thought of everyone seeing Kris’s crappy gifts after the great presents he’d just received. The dog was brought to relief at Kris’s next words.

“Let’s let everyone else go first.”

Seeing as there were less humans than hybrids, who were also less excitable, the present opening for the owners went by much quicker. Xiumin received mostly clothes, but he also got a new music player and the very odd gift of some steamed buns from his own hybrid. Everyone knew that Luhan gave his owner the nickname “baozi” due to his pale round face and his habit of puffing his cheeks out. But they never would have expected him to give Xiumin some steamed buns as a present.

“And they’re even still warm.” Xiumin said, biting into one.

“Hee hee, I asked Kris hyung if I could keep them in the oven during the party.” Luhan chuckled.

“You did? I didn’t even notice.” The short blond said, finishing off one bun.

“I thought I smelled something in there.” Baekhyun said, his mouth watering.

“Well, this is really nice. Thank you, Lulu.” Xiumin said, rubbing Luhan’s antlers. Xiumin would have never guessed that the deer hybrid would take pleasure in being pet on the appendages on his head, but the pink haired man claimed that it was very soothing.

D.O. went up next. He’d gotten a cookbook, a package of pots and frying pans, a new set of silverware, a large assortment of cooking tools and some gingerbread cookies. He also noticed an envelope directly under the first page of the cookbook. Thanks to the light above, he could see through the paper and make out several multicolored bills. The short boy smiled as he already knew who it was from.

“Geez guys. Looking at all of this, you would think that all I do is cook.” The short man said.

“We called Kai and asked what to get you and that’s what he said.” Chanyeol pointed out.

“Why do I get the feeling this was done intentionally?” Kris asked with a smile.

“I think someone wants you to cook for them.” Suho said, nudging the red haired boy and gesturing to his hybrid.

“Your cooking is really good, hyung.” The blond puppy whispered shyly. D.O. smiled fondly at his dog.

“Ooooh, can I cook at your house too?” Lay asked, his eyes completely closed. He most likely wasn’t tired. The rabbit also tended to talk with his eyes closed if he felt really calm. To the untrained eye most would probably miss the way Sehun’s arm was slowly moving behind Lay. He was lightly rubbing the bunny’s back and had been doing so for some time, so much so that he hadn’t even noticed. Everyone else had picked up on it and didn’t dare mention it in fear that the cat would get embarrassed and stop.

“Of course. Maybe we’ll cook something special for New Year’s.” Lay simply hummed in response.

Suho followed up. He’d, like Kris, been given a rather odd assortment of gifts. They were all nervous about this. Suho was a unique individual. Though he was only 23, he had the humor and personality of someone much older. At first the group thought it was a bit odd and off putting, though now they adore the man’s mannerisms. The problem was that they always struggled to come of up gift ideas for him.

“This is really nice guys.” Suho said, examining his presents.

“It’s so weird though.” Sehun mumbled.

“No it’s not.” His owner countered. “We needed a new lamp anyway. And these light bulbs are even better than the ones we already had.” The man said, holding up the gifts from Kris and Chen.

“And don’t forget these bunny slippers.” Lay said clapping his hands which had the bunny slippers on them. D.O. and Kai thought the gift would be nice to remind Suho of his beloved rabbit.

“But you got socks too.” Sehun gestured at the 4 pairs of socks that had been purchased by the hyung duo.

“And yarn~” Lay dangled the string in front of Sehun who immediately began batting it. Tao crawled off of Baekhyun to join in the kitty play.

“It’s fun, right?” Tao mewed. Kris let out a heavy sigh. What was he thinking when he actually let Tao buy yarn as a present for a grown man. When he’d told the boy to ‘buy something he’d like to receive as a gift’, he never expected him to go the cat route of thinking.

“Yeah. It’s nice like the notebooks and sunglasses Baek and Chenny got. Thank you two.” Suho smiled genuinely at the two short beagles as he petted their kitty housemate’s head. Kris didn’t even want to ask what possessed them to buy those.

“Ok Kris hyung, it’s your turn finally.” Kai said. Chanyeol gulped. He’d been anxious about this moment since the presents had been purchased.

What if he doesn’t like them?

Chanyeol had no time to think about that possibility as Baekhyun and Tao handed the large box to Kris. Chen scampered to the couch as well to get a close up view of his owner opening his gift.

“Okay, let’s see what we have here.” Kris rubbed his hands together as he spoke. He delicately removed the wrapping and set it aside in a neatly folded square. Lay giggled at the gentle tactic of the large man. Kris opened the top flaps and looked inside.

“What is it, hyung?” Sehun asked. Kris didn’t answer, but instead let out a loud laugh, something rare for him. His gummy smile made its first appearance since the party started.

“What it is?” Suho asked this time. Kris pulled out a very large Siberian Husky stuffed toy.

“Wow, this is nice.” Kris said.

“Really?” Surprise was evident in Chanyeol’s voice.

“Yeah, it’s so cute.”

“It’s from me ge ge.” Tao meowed.

“Thank you Taozi.” The tall man patted his kitten’s head.

“Its name is Baby.” The cat purred.

“What kind of name is Baby?” Sehun asked.

“A cute one!” Tao pouted at the other cat.

“Well, I love Baby. Thank you, Tao Tao.” Kris said. He sat the husky down on the sofa to take out the rest of the box’s contents.

“There’s more?” Luhan asked.

“Yeah man.” Kris said. He pulled out the pair of Adidas shoes. “Nice. And who are these from?”

“Me, hyung.” Chen barked.

“There are dragons on the side too, dude.” Xiumin pointed out.

“Aw man, these are very cool, Chen. Thanks so much.” He scratched Chen under his chin, and the catdog nuzzled into his touch.

“Here hyung!” Baekhyun shoved his plate set towards Kris’s chest before the man could even put the shoes down.

“Are those dinner plates?” Sehun asked.

“Fine China for our fine Chinese duizang.” Baekhyun said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh brother.” Xiumin laughed.

“All of this had to have been really expensive.” Kris said, setting down his plates. “You guys really didn’t have to get this much.”

“Um, there’s one more, hyung.” Chanyeol said.

“Really?” Kris asked. Chanyeol nodded and handed Kris another wrapped box.

“Geez hyung, these guys are spoiling you.” D.O. said.

“You’re so loved.” Suho said. Kris smiled as he opened the final box. Chanyeol’s eyes were locked onto his owner’s.

“Woah. Check this out.” Kris pulled out a large pink alpaca plushie adorned with the red phoenix necklace.

“That’s so cute.” Luhan said.

“It’s adorable. Thank you Yeollie.” Kris said. Chanyeol smiled and removed the necklace from the toy and put it on the tall human’s neck.

“Lookin’ good, hyung.” Baekhyun barked.

“It’s really nice.” Xiumin added.

“It is. Thanks for the great gifts guys. What’s this guy’s name Chanyeol?” Kris held up the alpaca plush.

“Um…you can name him.” The dog responded. “Any name you want, hyung.”

“Anything I want, eh?” Kris assumed a ‘thinker’ pose as he pondered in thought. Everyone stared at the man, eagerly anticipating his choice.

“C’mon, it’s just a toy.” Sehun whined. Lay nipped his nose to shush him.

“I think I’ll call him, Ace.” Kris decided finally.

“Why Ace?” Chanyeol asked.

“It’s just a name I’ve always liked. Plus it’s cool, like me.” He said, cooly brushing his hair back.

“Aish, this hyung.” Everyone laughed at Chen’s comment, playfully slapping Kris. Chanyeol however, gently pulled on his owner’s sleeve, desperate to figure out how he felt.

“Do you really like your gifts, hyung?” the silver dog asked.

“They’re wonderful.” The tall man replied. He pulled each of his hybrids towards him and gave them each a kiss on the forehead.

“Aw, everyone thank your hybrids!” Suho called out. Sehun barely had time to register his owner’s words before he felt lips pressed to his cheek. Suho then placed a kiss right on top of Lay’s dimple, causing the rabbit to blush feverishly. Luhan found his face being grabbed and forcefully smashed into Xiumin’s, before he was immediately pushed back like nothing had happened. The deer couldn’t help the ugly laughter than escaped his body. And lastly, in an opposite turn of events, it was D.O. who found himself being kissed by Kai. The puppy climbed on top of his owner and licked his entire face about 20 times over.

Everyone laughed as they enjoyed the moment together. Being able to spend this time with their hybrids and fellow hybrid lovers was the best Christmas gift any of them could have asked for.

 

The party ended on a great note. Kris’s hybrids bid their friends farewell, hugging the daylights out of them as if it were the last time they’d see each other. At around 11:45 that night, Kris suggested to his hybrids to go outside on the balcony and watch the stars for a while. Little did the hybrids know that their owner was planning a special surprise for them.

“Oooh, the moon looks so pretty.” Tao squealed. “Like a giant cookie.”

“No it doesn’t.” Baekhyun countered. “It looks like a squeaky toy.”

“You look like a squeaky toy.” Tao giggled. Chen burst out laughing.

“Wae?” Baekhyun dramatically put his hand over his chest.

“You actually do, hyung.” Chen laughed, wrapping his arms around the drama queen pup.

“Why do you say that, Taozi?” Chanyeol asked.

“Because he’s so small and loud.” Tao teased. And the other beagles laughed even harder. Baekhyun and Tao started a little fist fight, gently brushing their fists across each other’s chest. The hybrids were having so much fun that they hadn’t noticed their owner come outside.

“I can’t leave you guys alone for 5 seconds without coming back to a fight.” The human said. The man was holding a tray with 4 mugs of warm milk and one of hot chocolate. Being that the hybrids had animal traits, they didn’t care much for chocolate. It didn’t make them sick or anything, but they generally weren’t too fond of the taste. As such, Kris tended to make them warm milk on cold nights.

The hybrids pranced over to their owner to get their drinks. The small plates that the mugs sat on were part of the set Baekhyun had purchased.

“Hey, you’re using the plates.” The brunet beagle happily barked.

“Yup, and I’ve got Chen Chen’s shoes on.” The tall man said, showing off the Adidas. He was also still wearing the necklace from Chanyeol.

“Where’s Baby?” Tao asked, upset to see his gift not being utilized.

“She’s on my bed guarding the room for us while we’re out here.” The man said, patting the kitten’s head. Tao mewed happily and the beagles smiled at his innocence.

They all took a moment to look up and the beautiful sky. It was a lovely night and Christmas lights decorated the neighborhood. Kris set down his drink while the hybrids were entranced and grabbed a small bag from beside the door. His phone had just struck 12 am.

“Well, as of right now, it’s Christmas morning.” Kris started as he approached his hybrids. “So I’d say it’s the perfect time for your special present.” The tall man reached into the bag and pulled out a small rectangular box, which he then held up to Chanyeol

“Another present, hyung?” Chanyeol asked, head tilted.

“Yep, Merry Christmas guys.” The hybrids looked at one another before turning back to Kris. They set their cups down on the table and returned to their owner, all of them slightly confused. Chanyeol reached out and took the box. “There’s one for each of you. But don’t open it yet.” Kris said, digging into the bag once more. He distributed boxes to each of the hybrids and had them stand in a line.

“Can we open it, ge?” Tao mewled impatiently, desperately wanting to see what was inside.

“Hold on, just let me get my camera ready.” Kris quickly scrolled through his phone and adjusted his position to get a good image. The balcony was illumined from outdoor lights, but Kris wanted to make sure that his hybrids’ reactions would be visible.

The beagles were dumbfounded. They had no idea what the presents could be. Chanyeol couldn’t detect a particular smell and shaking the box produced no notable sounds.

“Okay, open them.” Kris said finally. Each hybrid glanced at each other for one last time before opening the box. When they saw what was inside they were speechless. Inside each box was a beautiful, jeweled collar. The colors and tags varied for each boy.

Tao’s was blue and had panda tag at the end. Chen’s was pink with a dinosaur for the tag. Baekhyun’s was colored green and had a puppy as its tag. And lastly Chanyeol’s was a bright silver that matched his fur and had a giraffe tag. Each hybrid was in awe at the accessory. Collars were typically only given to beloved pet hybrids that were purchased for families at a young age or had lived with their owners for several years. It was rare for a hybrid that hadn’t known their owner for very long to receive such a treasured gift.

“You don’t necessarily have to wear them if you don’t want to.” Kris started. “I just thought it might be nice for you to have if we go somewhere fancy, you know.” The man stared at the ground quietly. The hybrids were at a loss. None of them could have ever anticipated getting something like a collar as a simple Christmas present. They all stared quietly at their owner, seemingly unable to form words.

“Well, do you like them? C’mon guys, say something.” Kris finally set his phone down, slowly approaching his pets.

“It’s just…I don’t know what to say.” Chanyeol stuttered.

“I...I never would have never imagined that I’d ever have one of these.” Baekhyun said, the hitch in his voice noticeable. Tao’s eyes were also teary as he seemed unable to speak at the moment. And Chen had a small smile on his face as if he were trying to keep his composure.

“Do you want to try them on?” Kris asked, unsure of what to say. Despite their stunned reactions, the hybrids nodded their heads vigorously to Kris’s question. And thus the blond man went to each boy and fastened the collars around their necks, cooing and complimenting them all the way.

“Chenny Chen, this looks great on you.”

“Wooow, Baekkie, you look 10 times cuter.”

“You look like such a dashing young man, Taozi.”

“Oh, Cànliè. This goes great with your beautiful fur.”

Even after a few minutes had passed, the boys were still in shock. Seeing the collar was breathtaking in itself, but now to have it on their neck. To feel the material on top of their skin, it was like a dream.

“Kris hyung, I…” Chanyeol paused as the tears were threating to fall. Kris immediately pulled the puppy into a hug and the other hybrids shuffled over to their owner as well. Kris embraced them all and began gently rocking them.

“I love you Kris, hyung.” Chanyeol cried. “This is…” the beagle found himself unable to say anything else and instead settled for letting his tears spill out.

“I love you too ge ge. And pretty hyungs.” Tao began to cry as well, he leaned into Chanyeol’s back to muffle his crying. Baekhyun pulled the tall kitten towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you Kris hyung, this means a lot.” The shorter beagle sniffed. “I…I love you.” Kris smiled and kissed Baekhyun once again. As the brunet preferred putting on a tough outer image, he rarely every expressed his feelings verbally, despite how much everyone knew he loved them. But being able to hear it from him was always something nice.

Chen remained oddly quiet. The others figured that he too was probably to the edge of tears, and decided that limiting his speech would prevent him from full on crying. So he simply nuzzled his face into Kris’s chest and gave him a lick on his cheek; his own way of expressing his love. They all could imagine how much this meant to him. Having lived as a stray for such a long time, the idea of ever having of collar of his own probably seemed utterly ridiculous. The way he’d been gently clutching the collar in two of his fingers since it was snapped around his neck seemed to suggest that. And thus Baekhyun began petting the nape Chen’s neck, something that always calmed the smaller dog.

They stood there for quite a while, simply letting out their emotions and enjoying the comfort from one another. It was completely silent for a while. After about a good five minutes, a quiet purring began reverberating from within the group. It took a minute for the sound to register, as the hybrids were still letting their emotions sink into their systems. Once they’d actually noticed the sound, immediately everyone’s eyes went to Tao. But the ebony hybrid was still sniffling a bit and they all knew that the kitten wasn’t able to purr when he was in a somber mood. Even if he wanted to forcefully cheer himself up, the cat boy simply found it an impossible task. The Li Hua Mao himself had a puzzled expression as he wondered what could be the source of the noise. Where was the purring coming from?

Unless.

Slowly, everyone turned to face Chen. The curly haired boy’s eyes were completely closed as he was still absently rubbing against Kris and relishing in Baekhyun’s touch. He hadn’t noticed that the huddle had slowly started pulling apart. It wasn’t until Baekhyun’s body was no longer pressed against his own that he snapped out of his trance. In an instant, his eyes shot opened. All eyes were on him and he slowly looked around at everyone else. To his surprise and confusion, everyone else had a large, warm smile on their face as they realized what had just happened. The half puppy wasn’t really sure how to respond to the situation, as he usually did everything in his power to not let out any sort of feline vocalizations or act like a cat in general. And if he ever did, he’d just pretend like it hadn’t happened. But there was no way out of such loud, blatant purring.

Kris simply placed his hand on top of Chen’s fingers which were still wrapped onto his collar.

“It looks lovely on you, Chenny. Do you like it?” the tall man whispered. Chen tried to force a smile as he could feel the tears coming back.

“I…I…I love it. I love you.” The beagle whispered. “I love all of you.” This time he raised his voice into a full meow as he embraced Kris once again. The others hugged him once again, all of them pleased to hear him intentionally meow. Tao, still teary himself, went over to the small dog’s side a gently licked his tears away. They all stood outside a bit longer. Kris was perfectly fine with it. He’d let his babies have as much time as they needed to let out their emotions before returning inside.

 

It was about 12:45 before the crew finally made their way to the bedroom. Though they were still a bit emotional about the whole ordeal, the hybrids had calmed down and were pleased to be snuggled up to their wonderful owner. Chanyeol was on top of Kris, who was on the far right side of the bed, using the taller man’s stomach as a pillow. Kris tangled his fingers though the dog’s silver fur with his right hand and rubbed the new collar with his left. Chen and Baekhyun lay on the other edge of the bed, the latter wrapped around the younger boy. The brown haired dog pressed gentle, sweet kisses to the other curly beagle’s neck. Tao lay in the middle of both groups and was cuddling Baby. Chen’s arms were wrapped around the cat’s waist. Both felines let out soft, purrs in their bliss.

“This collar is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.” Chanyeol murmured into Kris’s stomach. The tall man put two fingers under Chanyeol’s chin and made the puppy look up at him. He gently scratched the back of the hybrid’s neck as he admired the collar.

“We all feel the same.” Came a whisper from Baekhyun. Kris extended a hand to the other hybrids, brushing the back of it across their faces.

“I know how special they are to you guys.” The blond man said. They certainly were, which is why Chanyeol had had a question burning on his tongue for the past few minutes.

“Um, most hybrids don’t get stuff like this unless they’ve been with their owner for years.” The tall dog started nervously. “Why did you…” Kris cut him off by cupping his cheeks. That gummy smile making it’s oh so rare appearance.

“What do you mean?” It almost sounded like the man was laughing. “You guys deserve these. There’s no reason to make you wait for something so important to you.” Chanyeol couldn’t fight the blush that formed on his face. Kris had just given them something that most hybrids work their butts off for as a Christmas gift. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, and Tao didn’t do anything close the amount of labor that other pets tend to do to even be considered worthy of a collar. And even for those people that actually treated their hybrids well, they still often waited at least a few years before buying them such a precious present. Yet here Kris was; giving them collars for literally nothing and he was acting like it was no big deal.

“It’s just not something we’re used to.” The silver beagle replied shyly.

“I know, but you guys are really important to me. I wanted you to have something to show how loved you are.” Kris pressed a kiss on Chanyeol’s hand. “I want the world to see how much I love you.”

Chanyeol smiled fondly. He was about to say something else before a quiet snoring caught his ear. The silver puppy looked over to see Tao completely asleep, the stuffed husky still clutched in his grasp. Chanyeol reached over and lightly brushed the boy’s fringe while Kris pulled off his glasses. He figured Tao must have been too tired to take them off himself or that he simply forgot. Baekhyun and Chen’s eyes were already near shut and Kris decided that it was now finally time to go to bed.

“Merry Christmas, guys. You’re the greatest gifts I’ve ever gotten.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end everyone. Sorry if it went on for too long. I wanted them to play some sort of game at the party, and me being me, (girl who doesn't go out to parties) I had no idea what to have them do:/ But I hope it was funny and fluffy enough.
> 
> This is the last official chapter, but I've also got some epilogues going as well. They're just continuations from this point and some focus on the other characters as well. I'll start uploading them soon. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who enjoyed reading. You're all great:)


	6. Epilogues

Sorry it took so long, but I've been a bit busy lately. But here are the epilogues. I decided to create an entirely sepearate fic to hold them, so this story can just have its ending here and not be packed with a bunch of other chapters.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9690683/chapters/21873266

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter. Next one will be up soon.


End file.
